Rizal depicted as McDo mascot

Near the Oblation statue on the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman, Quezon City, the sight of an outdoor painting—one that depicts Dr. Jose Rizal dressed as Ronald McDonald—stopped two high school girls on their tracks.

“Was he (Rizal) that fat?” one of them asked, pointing to the national hero’s roundish, cartoonish face.

The other girl further joked: “Or was there a McDonald’s back then?”

They may be laughing, but soon they found themselves strolling past 70 more Rizal images mounted on lampposts lining the UP Academic Oval, each artwork offering fresh interpretations of his life and legacy.

In a country where almost every other town plaza is marked by a Rizal bust or statue, the UP campus exhibit may come off as a departure from the traditional, textbook persona of the foremost Filipino genius and revolutionary thinker.

There were more than enough Rizals to see—from the iconic to the comical, from the cerebral to the street-cool—for 2.2 kilometers of viewing pleasure.

150th birthday

Spearheaded by an art group called Canvas, the outdoor, monthlong exhibit is part of UP’s celebration of Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary on June 19.

The exhibit tries to explore how the present generation looks at the martyred patriot a century and a half hence. With a tinge of skepticism, its theme asks: “Relevant Rizal?”

“It’s for free and those walking or jogging around the oval can look at the artwork on display at their own leisure,” said Elena Mirano, dean of the UP College of Arts and Letters.

Each “painting” at the Academic Oval is actually a reproduction on tarpaulins, with accompanying blurbs from the artists.

The actual artworks are currently on display at the UP Vargas Museum until June 11.

70 paintings

“We were able to come up with 70 (paintings) for display at the museum, but we’re still waiting for other artists to submit theirs,” lawyer Gigo Alampay, a UP alumnus and executive director of Canvas, told the Inquirer in a recent interview.

Alampay described the works as “unique and striking” in their depictions of the national hero.

A work simply titled “Jose” by artist Roel Obemio, for example, portrayed the 19th-century icon as a McDonald’s mascot totting an iPod.

Mark Arcamo painted a faceless and bound male figure in “Mi Ultimo Adios,” after the poem Rizal wrote on the eve of his execution in 1896.

Rizal may not be a product of UP (which was established 12 years after his death), but the institution can be considered the “realization” of Rizal’s dream of a national university, according to Mirano.

“His spirit has guided and influenced the critical thought of UP. And the Oblation itself was inspired by his last poem,” the dean said.

Social relevance

Is Rizal still that relevant?

Mirano offers her own answer: “Looking back, you cannot just ignore (what he did for us). You did not come out of nothing. If you did, then you are without depth. Is that even a question?”

Gonzalo Campoamor, an associate dean, said the country was still mired in the same problems Rizal encountered during his time, such as widespread poverty and corruption.

Several paintings indeed try to put Rizal in modern-day Philippine realities. “Your Honors” by Raymond Legaspi pays tribute to the so-called whistleblowers and shows a fat-faced Rizal surrounded by clowns and unearthly creatures.

Two paintings don’t show any Rizal figure at all, but instead feature everyday scenes in the streets and avenues named in honor of the national hero.

One of them, “Avenida Rizal” by Dansoy Coquilla, captures the squalor and chaos of the famous thoroughfare in Manila.

The accompanying blurb from the artist sadly noted how the actual Avenida had acquired “a notoriety which in some way discredits the ideals and true image of our hero.”

BenCab piece

One of the most famous members of Canvas, National Artist Ben Cabrera (a.k.a. BenCab) contributed “Studies on Rizal,” a delicate sketch of the hero in various stages of his life.

It depicts Rizal as a child studying by an oil lamp, as a grown man on a mission for the Motherland, and as a condemned prisoner of Spanish colonial rule facing death at the Luneta.

“7:02” is an illumination both of Rizal’s work and “the last remaining seconds of his life before he made his historic turn-around (to face his firing squad), before he made his last supreme effort to defy even death itself,” according to the artist, Weena Espardinez.

“This public art is our way of pondering Rizal’s legacy in a new light (and making it) more accessible. Really, it’s up to the public how to appreciate it but we hope they enjoy it as well,” Alampay said.

The paintings at the Vargas Museum will be up for sale, with the proceeds to be used in support of other Canvas projects.

Tarpaulins from the Academic Oval displays will be recycled into bags and purses—artworks in themselves—with the help of a women’s organization.