Tributes to Tito

Shortly before Tito Cuevas died, he asked his family not to hold a wake for him. He must have wanted a quiet passing, as he always yearned for silence and solitude in the last years of his life.

Yet his friends couldn’t just let the death of one of Cebu’s pioneering abstract expressionist painters go unnoticed. The man who did so much for art deserves to be honored, at least by his fellow artists.

And so they came to his cremation Mass the day after his death and to the many other Masses that followed, all held in his honor. Such attention must have been too much for Tito, but I’m sure he would be also overwhelmed by the testimonies of his friends about how much they were touched by his friendship and generosity. Fellow artists described  how his work and ideas have inspired or influenced them.

Cultural institutions like the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI),  Manila Art Frames, and the Sacred Heart Parish Alternative Contemporary Art Studio (ACAS), with whom Tito had exhibited before, sponsored some of these Masses.

Recently, they planned to organize retrospectives for him in order to give the public a glimpse of the range and complexity of Tito’s art. This series of tribute exhibits began with a collection of his icon paintings displayed in Casa Gorordo Museum, which is owned by RAFI.

Last week, the Sacred Heart Parish Alternative Contemporary Art Studio opened an exhibit of works and articles reminiscent of his life and influences. Curated by JV Castro, the show features Tito’s struggles with drawing as a student of Cebuano master Martino Abellana (one work, a charcoal drawing of a male nude, features Abellana’s own sketch right beside Tito’s as the teacher’s demo for him), his appropriation (at times, actual reproduction) of styles by modenists like Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Joan Miro, etc., and his attempts at different materials and media (he made etchings, sculpted big stones, and painted rocks and bottles).

All these were mere preludes to abstract expressionism, which left the strongest impact on him. He himself was never afraid to admit influence and gave his own homages to abstract artists like Mark Rothko and Franz Klein, whose works, which he saw in the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York, left a lasting impression on him.

The show in ACAS also features Tito’s box of oil bars, apron and brushes, art books, a ceramic vase representing his antique collection, and framed photographs of a young Tito with his wife. These details could only hint of  how much he valued work, good materials, exquisite craft from the past, and, of course, his family.

But perhaps the highlight of the show is his last painting titled “So Be It.” It showed faces distorted seemingly by pain and suffering. Yet the title suggests surrender or acceptance of fate, the willingness to suffer and stand up to Death.

Indeed, shortly after this work, Tito himself succumbed to death. Yet he faced it nobly, and hid any hint of pain when he was with friends, like in the last exhibits he somehow managed to attend. Those were the last times we were able to see him.

But more and more Cebuanos will soon get to know Tito as two more of his retrospectives will soon open here in the city. The Cebu Museum located at the second floor of the Rizal Memorial Library in Osmeña Boulevard  will open an exhibit of his masterpieces. The venue is owned by the Cebu city government, so it’s the local government’s way of officially recognizing the Cebuano artist who  has brought  honor to Cebu.

These three retrospectives are deliberately not intended to sell the artist’s works, even if some guests asked to buy some during the opening. The series of retrospectives will culminate in a selling exhibit soon to open at SM City Cebu Art Center.

Tito made the ultimate sacrifice for art when he quit his executive position in Philippine Airlines to become a full-time painter. He had his stint of financial difficulties, but he soon managed to establish a niche in the local art market as an abstract painter when most other artists in Cebu did realist landscapes, portraits and still lifes. Today, his paintings are sought by collectors not only in Cebu but in Manila and even abroad.

I have not heard of any artist in the country who was likewise honored by such a series of retrospectives happening in a short period of time. I know more tributes are coming for Tito, who only wanted to pass away without a  fuss.