This article first appeared in the Books section of Vibalfoundation.org.
What do you intend to achieve -- especially if the points of comparison are consequential -- when you juxtapose two entities simultaneously similar and dissimilar? Is it to highlight the perceived superiority of one to the other, or to bust the myth of their disparity in candor and value?
Painter and muralist Carlos "Botong" Francisco and komiks illustrator Francisco Coching were contemporaries utterly divided by the ascribed maladies of the arts: their respective vocations, as though by some curse, were not regarded with the same level of respect by those who dictate which art is good and which is not. With oft-elitist art institutions favoring the likes of Francisco (notwithstanding the intrinsic earthiness of his oeuvre), those like Coching whose form and subjects appeal to the commoner are relegated farther into the margins of the art world.
The perceived disparity is perhaps felt most acutely on a typical visit to a typical art gallery, when one realizes -- not to his or her surprise -- that paintings adorn the walls while hardly any komiks are in sight. Yes, komiks certainly had its place in comic stands during its heyday, but critics have yet to designate such places as a valid haven for the arts.
Such surmises should not cast doubt on the merits of the art of painting, of course. If anything, they only question the values and ideals held in high regard by the art world, which in turn generate its criteria for judging which is worthy of the label "art".
With such predicaments eternally looming over the art world, it is not at all coincidental that Vibal Foundation decided to launch in tandem the books The Life and Art of Botong Francisco and The Life and Art of Francisco Coching. Both edited by renowned art scholar Patrick D. Flores, the books contain informed and insightful essays by some of the most erudite scholars on the parallel yet inextricably intertwined lives and art of the two masters. As such and when viewed in context, the books are bound to make us reconsider our misjudgment by enabling us to marvel at a complexity our pride has kept us from seeing, and at the same time reveal to us how a modest milieu, when treated with a measure of ingenuity, can inspire monumentality.
What do you intend to achieve -- especially if the points of comparison are consequential -- when you juxtapose two entities simultaneously similar and dissimilar? Is it to highlight the perceived superiority of one to the other, or to bust the myth of their disparity in candor and value?
Painter and muralist Carlos "Botong" Francisco and komiks illustrator Francisco Coching were contemporaries utterly divided by the ascribed maladies of the arts: their respective vocations, as though by some curse, were not regarded with the same level of respect by those who dictate which art is good and which is not. With oft-elitist art institutions favoring the likes of Francisco (notwithstanding the intrinsic earthiness of his oeuvre), those like Coching whose form and subjects appeal to the commoner are relegated farther into the margins of the art world.
The perceived disparity is perhaps felt most acutely on a typical visit to a typical art gallery, when one realizes -- not to his or her surprise -- that paintings adorn the walls while hardly any komiks are in sight. Yes, komiks certainly had its place in comic stands during its heyday, but critics have yet to designate such places as a valid haven for the arts.
Such surmises should not cast doubt on the merits of the art of painting, of course. If anything, they only question the values and ideals held in high regard by the art world, which in turn generate its criteria for judging which is worthy of the label "art".
With such predicaments eternally looming over the art world, it is not at all coincidental that Vibal Foundation decided to launch in tandem the books The Life and Art of Botong Francisco and The Life and Art of Francisco Coching. Both edited by renowned art scholar Patrick D. Flores, the books contain informed and insightful essays by some of the most erudite scholars on the parallel yet inextricably intertwined lives and art of the two masters. As such and when viewed in context, the books are bound to make us reconsider our misjudgment by enabling us to marvel at a complexity our pride has kept us from seeing, and at the same time reveal to us how a modest milieu, when treated with a measure of ingenuity, can inspire monumentality.
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