Edsel H Moscoso (1952-2008)

Antiqueño artist "Totong" Edsel Moscoso died of leukemia on December 21, 2008. He was a great loss not only to the artists, but also to the Antiqueño community. He was a Bugal kang Antique awardee, 1993.

I was first introduced to him at Piedra Restaurant in 2003, when my first book THE RISE OF KINARAY-A. He had been asking around for a copy. He would drop by everytime he was in town.

I took this picture of him in his house in Madrangca in April 2007. It was Binirayan festival, and he invited me and Cecile Locsin Nava to have lunch with him. In August 28, I prepared an opening ritual for his 42nd solo exhibition at the Ayala Museum. He was very enthusiastic about telling me his next would be in Switzerland. No one expected that following exhibit at the UN in Geneva would be his last. His nephew Chad told me he came home from Switzerland very sick.

I wrote about that Ayala Museum show in Kinaray-a, and published it in the souvenir program of the 1st Karay-a Arts Festival in October 2007. Totong was very happy when I gave him a copy. It was the first time he was written about in Kinaray-a.

The last time we saw each other was during the Komedya Fiesta at the University of the Philippines on February 15, 2008. He insisted on paying for the muscovado I bought for him. But those were really from Marlene Liao. He told me he was so inspired by the komedya I directed he wanted to make a komedya series.

He did not show up in Binirayan 2008. He was preparing for his Geneva show. At the 2nd Karay-a Arts Festival in October 2008, somebody told me he was there, sitting under the shade of EBJ Park's very old pine trees. He was wearing a cap, and obviously did not want to be recognized, said my source. He was already very sick at that time.

Edsel was one great artist who was very proud about his roots. On February 11, we will open an exhibit of Edsel's works at the Museo Antiqueño. I went as far as Silay City to borrow his nude sketches from Lyn Gamboa. And as for my own tribute to him, I translated into English that article about his 42nd show "Antiqueños, Homage to my Kasimanwas" at the Ayala Museum.

Totong’s Tribute to Antiqueños

On August 28 to September 10, 2007 perhaps every Antiqueño who have visited Greenbelt Park at Makati has seen the ubiquitous poster boldly titled “Antiqueños.” And perhaps, they have – just as I had – felt a little nostalgic or teary-eyed with joy and pride, and restrained the urge to shout and jump for joy amidst the rush of cosmopolitans going to and from work or the malls. To find “Antiqueños” in the posh and upmarket mall complex in Makati City is almost unthinkable.

“Antiqueños: Homage to my Kasimanwas” was the 42nd solo exhibit by Antiqueño painter Edsel Moscoso. Born and raised in Bugasong, Moscoso made a name for himself among art collectors in Manila and abroad. This turned out to be his second to the last exhibit; his last was in Switzerland before he came home very ill. Paying homage to his fellow Antiqueños in his 42nd exhibit was a very significant step for Moscoso. It was the first time in his entire career as painter that he announced in his exhibition that he is an Antiqueño, and that his paintings are images of Antiqueños.

Edsel Moscoso was a big name among collectors and art critics. He shows were much written about in newspapers and magazines, but none mentioned about Antique. His paintings were regarded as Filipino, but never Antiqueño. National Artist Nick Joaquin in his column in Manila standard wrote of Moscoso’s paintings: “(they) tell no story – except that eternal story of born, live, love, work, suffer and die – but they do make a point of retelling that story as the story of how the Filipino is born, lives, loves, works, suffers, and dies.”

The brochure for the “Antiqueños” exhibit says: “Moscoso’s art identifies with the Filipino rural community. He spent part of his life in the simplicity of the rural environment.” I wonder if this was a conscious effort to generalize, or if the writer was not at all aware that the “rural environment” that mapped Moscoso’s imagination as artist were the mountains, valleys and seas of Antique, and the Antiqueño fisherfolks, peasants, and vendors. In short, as artist Edsel Moscoso was first appropriated by the Filipino, before he was possessed by the Antiqueño. In other words, he was first discovered by the nation, before he was owned by the province. Or perhaps, it was Moscoso who first saw the nation, before zeroing in on his hometown.

In “Antiqueños: Homage to my Kasimanwas” Moscoso comes full circle. It a journey of an Antiqueño as an artist. The artist had come home, and he was warmly welcomed by the Antiqueños. The exhibit opening on August 28, 2007 was attended no less by Senator Loren Legarda, who traces her roots to Antique, and Governor Sally Zaldivar Perez and her entourage of Antiqueño supporters and friends.

Moscoso, well-remembered by his family and friends as Totong Edsel, was born on January 30, 1952 in Bugasong as the sixth child of Dr. Julito A. Moscoso and Remedios Atillo Hermoso. He started drawing before he went to school at Bugasong Elementary School, and finished Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines. In 1975, he was chosen as one of the 13 Outstanding Young Artists of the Art Association of the Philippines, and he participated in various group exhibits before he had his first solo show at the Kilusang Gallery, followed up with another at the Galeria Buglas in Bacolod City.

In the 80s, Moscoso ventured into holding exhibitions abroad, like San Francisco, Italy, Beijing, Moscow, Sweden, Germany, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, among others, which gave him renown as an international artist. In 1986 he studied at the Center for the Study of Medieval Art and Culture through a scholarship from the Italian Government. He finished summa cum laude at the Pontifico Instituto di Archeologia Christiana in Rome.

Moscoso’s career as an artist is a long list of solo exhibits all around the globe. He kept coming and going if only to show off his canvasses of the ordinary folks – sakadas, peasants, fisherfolks, farmers, vendors, salt-makers – little people in varied poses of daily living, carrying their burden of baskets, sugar canes, fishnets, sacks of rice. They are pictures of simple yet industrious and hardy folks, of peasant women framed by halos, evoking divinity in their earthiness. Perhaps these are the images that enchant Moscoso’s collectors. He called his paintings “manscapes.”

At the dawn of the new millennium, Moscoso went home to Antique and built his house atop the rocks of Madrangca Beach in San Jose. His dream house facing the sea gave him a view of Madrangca’s picturesque sunset, and perhaps it was this that convinced him to stay in Antique. His house was his sanctuary, and he filled it with his art collection from the different places he had been to. He wanted to make this as a creative space to become home to artists and writers who wanted to get inspiration for their works.
In his 42nd solo exhibit, just after an exhibition in Seoul, Korea, and before a scheduled exhibition in Switzerland, Moscoso proudly announce, after a long journey around the globe, that the people clothed in gold – as Nick Joaquin had it: the golden Moscosos – are Antiqueños. It was the greatest honor Moscoso gave to Antique and her people.

My personal crusades

Most have new year resolutions. I don't. Because I don't believe in New Year anymore. The cycle of life just keeps on. Days turn to nights to days to nights. My argument is very simple: If many celebrate new year on after December 31, and the Chinese have theirs in February or some later date, the Buddhists (Thais) have their Songkran in April, there are three new years, not counting the less publicized cultures, all over the world. So what's the big deal? Why can't we just sleep tight on December 31 and wake up to a new day as we do all the time.

Time is relative. Einstein already showed us that, and recently news came out that scientists almost agree with him because they couldn't disprove him. In fact, my thinking is if we junk the Gregorian calendar, we might be able to explain climate change. We don't have to wonder why the chill came rather late this year, and the storms, and El Niño, La Niña, etc. The world, being matter, simply consumes itself or being consumed. But that's not saying we do not conserve Earth's resources!

Am not about to write on Climate Change or refute the Gregorian calendar, though. I just said I don't have NY resolutions. But I have personal crusades. These I (try hard) to do every day, because there is no new year, didn't I say?

1. Buy only local fruits.

I don't buy oranges, apples, grapes, pears, kiwi, etc. because they are imported. We don't help our economy by doing so. But I eat them if somebody gave me. Sayang naman. I just don't want to shell out my own money on them. I would buy papaya, pomelo, rambutan, mangosteen, kaymito - my number one fave fruit now, kasuy, pinya, mangga of course, chico, banana because they are local, from Davao, Guimaras, Aklan. I always ask vendors where the fruits come from. And I always buy from the fruit peddler doing the rounds of our village. The papaya looks freshly picked from her backyard.

When I have guests, I try to serve these fruits, especially those in season. Atis for example is abundant in September, and I grow one in my yard. Sometimes the bats and birds get them before I do. I don't mind. Knowing that there are bats around are a good sign that the ecosystem is still sound. Seeing different species of birds perched on our pomelo tree is a joy. We must plant fruit trees around our houses. Especially citrus variety, because the butterflies love to lay their eggs in their leaves. The birds pick the catterpillars and other insects, they pick the fruits, scatter the seeds, etc., so life goes on.

2. Take care of our money.

I don't exactly mean investing and using them in business. Keeping our money clean and uncrumpled is one way we who don't have much of them could do to help our economy. Many people fold the bills like origami, some crumple them. Galit ba sila sa pera. Countries that have better economies have clean and crisp bills. Walang langsa ng isda. So keep bills well in your wallets, or press them.

Keep loose change (barya) to pay tricycle and jeepney drivers. Don't give them the bills, because they are the number one origami artists. Jeepney drivers roll bills like tobacco.

If possible use the big denominations coins (10s and 5s) to pay the fishmonger. So our bills don't grow scales and smell like fish.

If you work as cashier, keep the torn and old bills in your money box, do not circulate them. They must be deposited or exchange for new ones at the bank.

Do not write your cellphone numbers on the paper bill. You don't get good friends that way. It's a venue for date rape and other unexpected crimes. Ikaw rin. Besides you're not that desperate.

Science of the Mind teaches us to love money. It doesn't only mean to love to work for money. It means loving and caring for the physical money - the bill and coins. Take care of them, keep them clean, uncrumpled. They will love coming back to you. Here, loving money means using them well. Do not use them for corruption, or corrupting yourself. Use it for right living and living right.

3. Send greeting cards.

There is no better alternative to nicely drawn greeting cards. Not the e-cards nor SMS greetings. It is always a delight to receive something from the postman, that's not your water or electric bill, subscriptions or credit card mailers. This is the only way we could keep humane in the digital global village. Hallmark must support me on this.

4. Buy from the peddlers around your village.

Padit sells dila-dila, bitsukoy, buchi, bingka that she cooks herself. Milo sells palutaw, dulse saging, banana cue every afternoon. They are women from our village. People like them should be supported so they keep these traditional foods. And I tell Padit to use banana leaves to wrap the dila-dila. I don't buy if she uses plastic bags. In the same way, I buy vegetables from this teenage boy who sees himself through night school, and fish from the women who live along the shore. They would help the fishermen haul in the fish and peddle their share to buy their rice or for their children's baon. They also save us from going to the market often.