Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

This is a portrait of a familiar face which was part of the important series entitled "Larawan". In 1969 after the huge success of his "Sabel" series, he left the Philippines to take part in the VI Paris Biennale, to travel — and to fly to London to reunite with his fiance, English journalist Caroline Kennedy who he met here in Manila. They settled in London and started a family while he studied printmaking in Chelsea. Ironically, being away made him all the more interested in Philippine history. He and Caroline scoured flea markets and antique shops looking for old books on the Philippines, Spanish colonial maps and photographs. The sepia colonial photographs which he collected fused with the idea of an oppressive colonial past repeating itself under the guise of the Martial Law dictatorship inspired him to create a new series called "Larawan". "Larawan" would be the next important stylistic phase in his career as an artist. Technically, Bencab's talent for portraiture and the human figure still stand out on top of his politicized concept and social relevance. Sick of the trend on abstraction, his concept coincided with the revival of figurative art by English painters David Hockney and Francis Bacon. This detailed light mauve acrylic portrait of Caroline is painted with stains that simulate coffee drippings and the the sepia effect of old photographs. After 16 years of marriage with three children from that union, they divorced and Bencab returned to the Philippines to live in Baguio. He has since then established the BAG or Baguio Arts Guild together with other Baguio based artists. He also founded the Bencab Museum. Apart from being a prolific artist and setting up his legacy in the museum, the BAG activities and his involvement in projects that benefit the community have created a wholistically satisfying and richer life for him here — something that perhaps he would not have been able to do as a stranger and foreigner in England.