Literature: Campomanes, Oscar V. Elmer Borlongan: An Ordinary Man, An Extraordinary Life (Volume I). San Antonio, Zambales: Sayong’s Pasilyo Country Living and Bookstore, 2018. Full-color illustration and painting description on page 161.

ABOUT THE WORK

The Filipino Everyman According To Borlongan Injecting Wit into Social Commentary The Filipino everyman is the main protagonist of Elmer Borlongan’s expressionist oeuvre. Quick in his wit, Borlongan portrays the everyman at his barest, injecting humor in his otherwise dejected paintings. As he said in Oscar Campomanes’s monograph Elmer Borlongan: An Ordinary Man, An Extraordinary Life: "All my paintings are of things I have seen. There is no overt symbolism in any of my work, but there is always a story to be told." With his 2005 Cabinet Member, Borlongan injects a witty social commentary in what looks like a simple, if a bit surrealist, painting. Here, Borlongon’s everyday man (clad in blue jeans and a blue shirt whose sleeves are rolled up to provide more air for the man) carries on his back a giant cabinet, face determined as he slugs the furniture up towards his destination. Cleverly, the term “cabinet member” is a double entendre. A cabinet member refers to a high-ranking official who is among those expected to lead a country or a state. They are meant to advise the head of the state and are responsible for the day-to-day management of the government and its response to emergencies and sudden events. However, in Borlongan’s Cabinet Member, these formal, highly-educated officials are nowhere to be found. Instead, slugging and suffering in their place is a normal, everyday man. The commentary is pointed, if not subtle – it is the common people who strive hard to better their lives while those who are expected to lead shrug off the burden, giving it off to those whose shoulders are already heavy with problems. Borlongan’s sympathy has always been for the masses. Starting his artistic career under the mentorship of Fernando Sena, his community-based art greatly inspired Borlongan’s view of artistry. During his college years, he extended his works past the four walls of his classroom, he collaborated with other artists for political works and creations. This sympathy is still evident even past his college years. Cabinet Member is a shining example of his wit and charm, his sociopolitical works retaining their cheeky jab while remaining calm and palatable. “The genius of Elmer Borlongan is the fact … he is able to paint a supposedly sad situation and make it into a happy artwork,” Borlongan collector Julius Babao says in an interview with Rica Bolipata-Santos, as published in a volume of Borlongan’s monograph Elmer Borlongan: An Ordinary Man, An Extraordinary Life Indeed, the wit and wiles of Cabinet Member shows Borlongan's humor while showing the pertinent social and political situations of his times. He perfectly blends the dejection of the situation with a cheeky punch up at the leaders, with the title of the piece awarding the lofty “cabinet member” title not to the lauded, suit-and-tie men but to the common everyday folk who work tirelessly from day to night. There is little to assuage on the man’s face but as Borlongan said in the Campomanes book, "The people in my paintings don't show so much emotion in their entire faces, but you can see it in their eyes." (Hannah Valiente)