This
year, the 15th year of what is now a tradition of commissioning an
original artwork for our family’s Christmas card, was perhaps smoother than
usual, facilitated by a personal recommendation by the artist of our 2009 Christmas card.
Marc Salamat recommended that we seriously consider his previous workshop
apprentice, artist-colleague, and Hagonoy, Bulacan townmate, Jojo dela Cruz,
for our 2017 Christmas artwork. This
naturally led to a first meeting and discussion, at which time he showed me
photographs of works that he had done in the past.
Jojo’s
portfolio was impressive in its versatility.
Apart from oil-on-canvas works such as this still life,
or
this pensive open window,
he
has also made bas-reliefs in a variety of materials and finishes.
And
if this was not yet sufficiently varied, Jojo also does three-dimensional resin
sculpture to commission, with both secular and religious subjects.
That
first meeting was so straightforward that we quickly came to an agreement, even
without the need for numerous options or studies. We simply confirmed our common understanding
of what the broad theme needed to be – a Filipino Christmas – and what the
specific subject could be – “namamasko.”
By
mid-September, or in just a few weeks after that single meeting, Jojo had
emailed me a photograph of the artwork in progress in his home workshop.
And
by the third week of October, he delivered the finished artwork to my house –
only the second time that we had met face-to-face. Here is how it appeared on the cover of our
Christmas card this year.
Jojo
dela Cruz
“NAMAMASKO
PO”
Oil on canvas
24” x 36” (61 cm x 91 cm)
2017
Born in Binangonan, Rizal in 1980, Jojo dela Cruz
was orphaned at a young age and went off to live with relatives in Hagonoy,
Bulacan. He still lives there today, now
with his wife and two children.
His interest in art was nurtured as early as
secondary school, when his coach Mrs. Yolanda Narciso encouraged him to
represent the school in art competitions, winning several awards and plaques of
recognition in the process.
In 2005, he won a scholarship from the
artist-author-professor Mr. Jun Cruz Reyes, also a Hagonoy native, to enter the
University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts as a Sculpture major. He left after two years to become a full-time
artist.
Today, Jojo is a highly versatile artist in many
media – he sculpts in wood, fiber glass, and clay, and paints on canvas,
concrete, and wood. He even undertakes
landscape projects and designs waterfalls for them. He is also a tattoo artist.
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People
lucky (hahaha) enough to be on our gift list will know that over the past few
years, we have extended the “give art on Christmas day” effort beyond just our
family’s Christmas cards to include even the materials we wrap our gifts
in. This year, our usual Christmas gift
package (unfortunately too heavy and fragile to ship via courier to more
distant addressees on the list) was encased in a specially-crafted “baul”
(chest) mimicking those antique bone-inlaid narra bauls common in Bulacan and
elsewhere in centuries past.
As
in previous years, this year’s custom-made packaging was crafted for us by our
friendly Bulacan neighborhood artist and heritage worker, Rheeza
Hernandez.
The
2017 Christmas baul held our three book selections for this year:
The
Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, by Primitivo Mijares,
revised and annotated 2016 edition.
Amazing
Facts and Figures Every Filipino Must Know, by Luisitio Batongbakal Jr., Alex Castro, and Marcus Vaflor. Summit Books, 2016.
Heneral Luna: The History Behind the Movie, by
Dr. Vivencio R. Jose. Anvil Publishing,
2015.
These should keep our recipients occupied with
reading over the first few weeks of 2018 at least!
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From my family and me to you and yours,
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
MALIGAYANG PASKO AT MANIGONG BAGONG TAON!
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Originally published on 31 December 2017. All text and photos (except where attributed otherwise) copyright ©2017 Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
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