ArticulatePH is thrilled to present Lost Conversations, a series of interviews conducted 40-50 years ago by publisher, art critic, and artist Cid Reyes.
Cid recently rediscovered these cassette tape recordings of conversations with established artists, masters, and National Artists, and ArticulatePH has now digitized them for today's art enthusiasts.
These invaluable sound bites, now carefully restored, are truly national treasures, transporting us to an era on the brink of a Philippine contemporary art revolution.
Mauro Malang Santos (1928-2017), a vanguard of Philippine art modernism, leaves behind a rich and colorful legacy of his art. His works attest to the artist’s prolific production, borne not of creative angst and torment but of a joyous spirit, exhilaration, and an undeniable attachment to Filipino customs, rituals, and traditions.
Malang’s images have dominated Manila's art-scape for decades, and his drawings, prints, and paintings now grace the mansions of the elite and the lobbies of corporate institutions. Indeed, they have even found their way into an advertising poster for a milk brand or the artist himself endorsing the country’s leading chain of bookstores as a source of art supplies.
It was not Malang's artwork, however, that brought him to prominence, but rather his cartoons and comic strips. No less than National Artist Nick Joaquin once christened Malang the “Magus of the Masa,” comparing him to Honore’ Daumier, the 19th-century French cartoonist, celebrating his gift for
“extolling the quotidian and satirizing the current, not to mention the talent to be lively and comic even when dealing with bane and folly. Hooray for the artist who can make us laugh at ourselves!”
Happiness is a Malang artwork!