The 'Old' Art

The New ‘old’ Art
By: Yoko Ramos-Vingno

This painter is a lover of the ‘old’ art – the lost art of Rembrandt and Luna. He lives by the chiaroscuro principle and believes that the “light is the source of life and can be more appreciated if seen in the deepest darkness.” He is awed by the great masters of the Baroque period.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is one of the greatest painters and printmakers of the European art history. Juan Luna, a political activist of the Philippine Revolution, was the first Filipino painter to be given recognition with his masterpiece, the Spolarium. Spolarium was Juan Luna’s entry to the Exposicion Nacional del Bellas Artes in 1884 and was awarded with three gold medals. Juan Luna gained recognition among the connoisseurs and art critics – and placed the Philippines on the map.
The subject painter is Rey Gaid Manginsay who pays great reverence to the works of Rembrandt and Juan Luna. He believes that the lost ‘old’ art is once again given a new life by a new generation of art enthusiasts the arriere-garde. Arriere-garde is the opposite of Avant-garde. Avant-garde is modern art. Rey who is a stickler for the “old masters” considers himself and his paintings under this new genre.
The painter Rey is also a multi-awarded Advertising Man – known as ‘Bobot’ in the advertising industry in the early 1980s. The AdMan Rey has mastered the craft of visual communications under the British advertising gurus who trained him. Rey learned the basics at the University of the Philippines-Diliman at the College of Fine Arts majoring in Painting before shifting to Visual Communications. For more than 20 years, Rey has been creating world-class advertising from small accounts such as toothpicks to big ones like jumbo jets.
Rey has won 18 major International Awards and was finalist in various advertising competitions in the Philippines and abroad. His name is the only Filipino entry in the 72nd ART Directors Annual circa 1992. Rey has gone to places like Italy, Morocco and the Middle East and worked for top Advertising agencies. The Philippines first gold award in international advertising was courtesy of Rey for a TV ad he conceptualized with a chiaroscuro treatment.
Rey re-branded himself in the new millennium, year 2000 and focused on his painting. Rey adopted his nickname ‘Bai’ which was given to him by his colleagues at ace/Saatchi&Saatchi Phils since he is Cebuano-speaking. Since then, his paintings would bear his ‘BAI’ signature on canvass.
Bai’s demeanor is simple. He is an accomplished man living a simple life. He exudes confidence and passion. His colleagues speak highly of him and his work has earned recognition. Bai’s earlier paintings were that of the Avant-garde types but doing so created a void in his heart. Despite the solo exhibits when the Avant-garde was the in thing, Bai rode the tide and kept painting but the inner stirrings he felt inside told that something was missing.
In the place where he calls home, ‘Bai’ is now back in Davao City, one of the most progressive cities in Mindanao south of the Philippines where he pursues painting with renewed passion. Davao has brought Bai inner peace that he has sought for a long time. Thereat he found his way back to his first ‘old’ love – brushing his canvass with the gentle ’old’ strokes of the chiaroscuro discipline.
He considers his painting of the Pope, Joseph Alois Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI as one of his favorites. This painting is in the Vatican – Pope Benedict XVI (oil on canvass 24x30). His painting of the Pope was ‘reproduced,’ framed and sold to patrons in Davao and Manila. The proceeds were used for the construction of a church in Davao City.
Not a Catholic -- Bai accepted the commission to do work on the Pope as he saw the work as ‘an artistic challenge for a serious painter.’ Bai’s painting of the Pope brought him to the path of doing similar works as his paintings now dwells on subjects that he says draw himself nearer to his God. According to him this is his way of glorifying and honoring his creator.
Most recently Bai has started with the Psalms and Proverbs series.