The Artist and the Ancient Lost Art

Avant-garde artist based in Chicago. Born in the Philippines. Genealogy is traced back to the town of Assisi in the Umbria region of Italy. Works on various style, medium and genre. Have done inner-city murals and outdoor sculptures. Involved in creative photography.  Clients are art collectors and corporations who find value on the originality of style and technique.

Currently focused on reviving "kut-kut", a lost ancient Philippine art style and technique based on early century art forms, The art process was handed down from several family generations of Samar province, one of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines. The  technique is a combination of ancient art processes --- sgraffito, encaustic and layering. The merging of these ancient techniques produces  an original art form  characterized by delicate swirling interwoven lines, multi-layered texture and an illusion of three-dimensional space.  I learned the technique  from my father and grandfather.

Art is my passion and compulsion. My mission is to revive the lost art and present to the public the beauty and rich history of the ancient art form from the Philippines. These all is for art, culture, and humanity. I am a master practitioner of  kut-kut technique in North America.  I conduct demos, lectures, and art classes for public and private organizations on the revival process of  the lost art form.

Current project is a traveling cultural  art exhibit, "Kut-kut -- Lost Art of the Philippines",  venues include community art organizations, universities, private and public libraries and galleries. Planned International tour on 4rth quarter of  2008 to 2009.

My ancestors used bees wax, animal fat, raw materials extracted from exotic tree saps and gums for emulsion. Powdered stones, rocks, pigmentation from tree barks, roots, blood, leaves and organic earth products form the essentials for tints, dyes and exotic colors.Newly finished artworks were placed inside a slotted bamboo box, the bamboo box is then placed in a crawl space of their nipa covered houses for the slow curing process.

My art pieces often take months to complete due to continuous layering, composing, and mixing of tints and dyes to the emulsion and lengthy drying time. I employ  Cartesian Grids,  Fractals,  Fibonacci, and  Golden Section formulae  for balance and composition.

Have developed the use of  other art materials to produce original artwork without sacrificing the ancient technique and style. The catalog collection captures the variations of my technique and style, from monochromatic, dual tone, sepia of early years to the development of complex multi colored exotic pieces. Note that some realistic/impressionist/still life images on the catalog were early art projects related to other facet of artistic style.

A recipient of the 2006 Fil-Am TV Hall of Fame Award and the 2007 Asian-American Hall of Fame Award in the field of Arts and Culture. The award is for outstanding achievement of an individual in promoting Philippine and Asian arts and culture in North America.

In 2010,received the much coveted Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Presidential Award from the president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, for outstanding achievement and service in the field of Arts and Culture. The international award is given every two years to highly selected individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievements on their given field. Last year’s awards were presented to 24 recipients from 13 countries. 

A book on Ancient Asian Arts - Techniques and Styles is in the works.