Art side by side with fashion: It’s in the details

COCO Alcuaz, sisters Sheree Gotuaco and Katty Qua, Christian Aguilar, Cid Reyes, Eileen Chua and Eddie Chua

Before the fashion label Freeway began its series, not a lot of people knew about the national artists and their works.

Back in 2008, said Elite Garments CEO Sheree Gotuaco, they had acquired the technology to create very sharp images on fabric. “So we thought, why not put works of national artists on clothes?” Since then, Freeway has paid tribute to two national artists every year.

This year’s featured artist for its holiday collection is Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, 2009 National Artist for Visual Arts, Painting, Sculpture and Mixed Media. The artist died in 2011 without having been officially honored by the government as a national artist.

The launch of Freeway’s holiday collection featuring Alcuaz’s art was quiet, educational and very special. The handful of guests learned more about the honoree from his son Christian Aguilar, his nephew Coco Alcuaz, art critic Cid Reyes and art collector Eddie Chua, owner of the CrownPlas Museum where the exclusive launch was held.

Freeway’s collection of shift dresses, chloe puff tops, shirts, scarves and bags proved to be an ideal canvas for Alcuaz’s images and colors.

Exclusive museum tour

ONE OF the Alcuaz paintings in Chua’s collection (above) is now wearable art (left).

The private collection of Eddie and Norma Chua, consisting of three floors of paintings, tapestries, sculptures, sketches and mosaic-like works by Alcuaz from different phases of the artist’s life, are housed in the CrownPlas Museum, along with Buddists artifacts and European porcelain and crystals. Access to the museum is strictly by invitation.

Eddie Chua, a friend and patron of Alcuaz’s, had initially said no when Sheree Gotuaco and her sister Katty Qua broached the idea of reproducing Alcuaz’s art on their garments. But Chua found out soon enough that the sisters’ uncle had been his classmate, so he ended up saying yes not just to the use of the paintings in his collection but also to hosting the launch of the holiday fashion line right in his museum.

Art critic’s grief

When artist and art critic Cid Reyes was preparing a book of interviews with Filipino artists, he meant for the interviews to appear in the book alphabetically—a complete listing from A to Z.

“Think of a Filipino master and he or she would be in the book,” he said. He already had Bencab, Joya, Legaspi, Manansala, Ocampo and so on up to Zobel.

So he set an appointment to interview Alcuaz. The session was to be held on a particular weekend at the hotel where the artist was residing. Unfortunately, a huge typhoon blew into town which aborted the interview.

“You can imagine my grief at the loss of that opportunity,” said Reyes. “I never managed to conduct an interview with my letter ‘A.’ That is the regret that I have.”

And so, “Conversations on Philippine Art” was published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines minus Alcuaz.

A son remembers

Christian Aguilar, an artist and an instructor on heritage conservation at Escuela Taller in Intramuros, recalled that his favorite times with his father were when they would go on vacation in Europe.

One year his father said that, for a change, they would join some friends and go skiing. So off they went to Czechoslovakia. “My father put on his skis and went down the slope without actually knowing how to stop,” he said.

When asked if his father ever practiced law, Christian said he didn’t. Although Alcuaz already had an Associate of Arts degree from San Beda College and a Fine Arts degree from the University of the Philippines, he went on to take up Law at the Ateneo de Manila just to please his father.

European sensibility

“Among the great Filipino artists,” Cid Reyes said, “Alcuaz had the most European sensibility, the most European way of composing.” Perhaps the artist could not help it. He lived in

SELF-PORTRAIT

many parts of Europe for such a

long time, his works showed the great influences of certain European artists. Matisse, for example. “The lemons that you see in his paintings are so very Matisse,” said Reyes. “You can see all the lemon yellow among the colors of Alcuaz.

Alcuaz or Aguilar

“People in my family have been basking in the reflected glory of the painter’s name,” said ANC business anchor Coco Alcuaz, who led a conversation about the artist during the launch.

According to the broadcaster, if the artist had not left the Philippines, the name he would have been known by would be Federico Alcuaz Aguilar because, legally, his family name was Aguilar. His father was Mariano Aguilar and his mother, Esperanza Alcuaz.