Recollections of pilgrimage of a lifetime to retrace footsteps of Man from Galilee

 

Writer Nancy T. Lu makes an unforgettable trip to Jerusalem.

By Nancy T, Lu

        Friends asked me what I brought back from my visit to the Holy Land. I told them, not joking at all, that I bought a framed crown of thorns complete with a certificate, saying it “has been sanctified in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher” in Jerusalem. I want to be constantly reminded that life’s pains and sufferings are nothing compared to what Jesus Christ went through.

        Traveling to Israel for the first time years ago and making what I truly believed to be the trip of a lifetime, I only knew that I must try to retrace the steps of Christ, especially his passion and sufferings.. The Garden of Gethsemane and the Via Dolorosa in the life of the Man from Galilee were marked from the beginning as of top priority. in my itinerary..

          My first whole day visit to Jerusalem began only hours after the wee morning assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City. Mendy Gonda, the Israeli tour guide with 30 years of experience, appeared visibly apprehensive that day. He was constantly using his mobile phone, checking out the situation in Hebrew.

Looking out to the right side of the tourist bus, he saw a police patrol car blocking a vehicle and accosting the passengers. He remarked: “The police are checking the identity papers of Palestinians who slip illegally into Tel Aviv to find work and rounding them up.”

        Israel was not taking any chance. The authorities were on full alert. So was the glib talker Gonda.

        “I am not sure that I will be able to get you all into the old city of Jerusalem today,” he announced the bad news.

        As he drove, he said: “There is going to be a bomb somewhere. This is all like Russian roulette.”

        The tour group spent a lot of time in the rebuilt Jewish Quarter of old Jerusalem, checking out the archaeological sites. During a visit to the Cenacle in a Jewish synagogue, the tour guide questioned the seating arrangement of Jesus and the apostles in Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” In his opinion, quoting biblical passages, Jesus would in most likelihood not be sitting in the middle. Rather, he would be the second or third person on one side of the table. Judas would be next to him, driving Peter to complain. Furthermore, he would be in a reclining position, supporting his head with one hand and helping himself to the bread with the other clean hand, claimed the Jewish guide.

        The truly exciting part of the visit began near the Jaffa Gate not far from the famous Wailing or Western Wall of Jerusalem, where many Jewish pilgrims, the most prominent being the bearded orthodox Jews in black, turn up to pray and mourn the Temple’s destruction. Many stick folded pieces of paper with writings into the crevices in the wall. These are collected in a container regularly and buried.

        The hurried and nervous steps of the tour group led by Gonda provided little time for picture-taking. The guide had warned everyone about the serious security problem due to fear of Palestinian reprisals.

        Indeed the Arab-owned shops along the narrow but rather picturesque Via Dolorosa route were all shuttered up on this day. The protest and mourning over the loss of a charismatic leader, whom the Israelis labeled a Palestinian Bin Laden, had begun.

        It was impossible to cover completely the traditional route along which Jesus carried his cross from his condemnation to his crucifixion in what was known as the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows). Even the guide book said that the Stations of the Cross may not be exactly the places where the cited incidents happened.

The first seven Stations of the Cross are in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. The VIIIth and the IXth Stations are located on the border between the Christian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter. The final five Stations are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

        A small “V” at the junction of Tariqal-Wad and Tariqal-Saray marked the Vth Station, which I visited. According to biblical account, the heavily scourged Jesus fell on his way to Calvary or Golgotha and Simon of Cyrene was ordered to carry the cross. A woodcarving in the small chapel showed this scene.

The Roman numeral VI was on the door of the Church of the Holy Face and St. Veronica, serving as the VIth Station. Veronica was said to have wiped the face of Jesus with a piece of cloth and he left the imprint of his face on it.

Jesus’ fall for the second time was commemorated in the VIIth Station. This was also the Porta Judicaria where, according to legend, the death decree was posted. On this particular day of my visit, the door was open. I slipped inside and saw a huge painting there depicting the fall.

   The Xth and XIth Stations were in the Latin Chapel of the Nailing to the Cross on Calvary inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Here Jesus was stripped of his clothes and nailed to the cross. I had entered the church from the courtyard and climbed the steps to the right to get to the rock on which Jesus and the two thieves were crucified on Calvary or Golgotha. According to the guide, the mosaics here were fairly recent, except for one depicting the Ascension, said to be of the 12^th century.       

The dimly-lit but richly decorated Greek Chapel of the Exaltation or the Raising of the Cross marked the XIIth Station. A crucified Jesus was flanked by the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. Below the Greek altar was a small opening. I reached down deep inside to touch the rock surface of Golgotha. 
 

The small Latin Stabat Mater altar honoring Our Lady of Sorrows was sandwiched between the two chapels. This was the XIIIth Station. Here Mary received the body taken down from the cross. 

 

Stairs led the group down to the Stone of Unction, commemorating the anointing of Jesus’ body by Nicodemus prior to the burial. The present slab of limestone was said to date back to only 1810. The previous 12^th century one was destroyed in a fire in 1808. Worshippers did not hesitate to touch and even kiss it. Hanging above the stone were lamps belonging to the Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins.

The Tomb of Christ, the XIVth Station, consisted of the Chapel of Angels, only 3.4 meters by 3 meters in size, and the even smaller Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, only 2 meters by 1.8 meters in area. I queued and literally stooped to get inside the second chapel to pray. I could not stay too long for many visitors were waiting to gain entrance inside. 

On my second visit to the holy site only two days later, Zvi Harpaz – a more considerate tour guide if compared to the first one who even challenged me to convince him about my Christian beliefs – asked if I wanted to have a blessing from the Franciscan monk, who was around. I was delighted.

Moments later, on my way out of the church, a decently dressed guy caught up with me, asking me if I would like to make a donation to the priest who had just blessed me. I pulled out a 20-shekel bill and began to head back to the chapel. He offered to give the donation in my behalf. Fearing that I would be left behind by my tour group, I gave him the money. To my chagrin, he headed for the nearest church exit and disappeared with the sum which I handed to him.

The failure to see the Garden of Gethsemane on my first visit to Jerusalem made me ask my more accommodating second guide early on about including a stop there on my return two days later. On my first trip to Jerusalem, I only saw from a distant rampart the Church of All Nations (Church of Agony) with a gold mosaic façade depicting Jesus Christ as mediator between God and man. At last I was able to walk like many other pilgrims around the site, pinpointed since the 4^th century as the place where Jesus prayed, was betrayed by Judas and was arrested. According to the guide, some of the olive trees seen there have been certified to be more than 2000 years old.

The basilica there, a design of architect Antonio Barluzzi, has purple glass on the windows, which dims the light entering the church to suggest “the hour when darkness reigns.” Devotees gathered near the section of the bedrock upon which Jesus prayed before his arrest.  

There I ended my pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But upon my return to my country of origin, with memories still fresh and vivid to make me feel the Lenten mood, I went out of my way to watch Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ.”

Fasnacht in Basel – a last fling before Lent

By Nancy T. Lu

The best thing about knowing a native of Basel was getting invited to experience the Swiss carnival called Fasnacht.

Long before sunrise one nippy morning in early March years ago, I found myself motoring from Zurich to the happening city of Basel. At an unholy hour when most individuals elsewhere were still snugly curled up in bed, people were pouring out into the picturesque streets for the carnival opening called Morgestracht.

On all streets leading to the center of Basel, pins embossed with classic images of carnival mainstays Alti Tanti (Old Aunt) and Waggi were being sold. The proceeds from the sale of the souvenirs serving as entry passes to the action area were earmarked for Fasnacht (carnival) expenses.

Swiss precision being what it was, all lights went out when the cathedral bell pealed to announce the stroke of four in the morning. The beautiful lantern parade commenced shortly.

Like fireflies in the night, the colorful creations of Swiss craftsmen snaked their way through the crowded streets to the solemn sound of piccolos and tin drums. Mardi gras it certainly was for the thousands of costumed participants who flaunted a heady razzmatazz of colors to add to the festive atmosphere. But the difference was that the traditional music associated with the opening of this carnival – a last fling before the start of Lent – did not whip the public into a frenzy. The spectacle only invited quiet viewing. At 5:30 a.m., the queues in restaurants were already very long. Everyone could not wait to slurp the steaming hot thick soup and to gorge on the served onion tart.

For two days, several bugle and drum corps led by towering Alti Tantis played repeatedly an identical tune. Men and women with uniform papier mache masks marched in big groups, attracting with their music a following among the unattached merrymakers. Others preferred to go around in pairs, trios or quartets. For some, it was a family affair.

Squares were jampacked. Human traffic from every direction resulted in bottlenecks at every turn. Loners got lost in small alleys. Only the faltering beats of their drums announced their isolated presence in the neighborhood long after the rest had put down their musical instruments.

The parades complete with confetti got everyone in the mood for revelry. Confetti by the sackload landed on unsuspecting victims.

Each entourage chose for the occasion a theme – a closely guarded secret until the time of the carnival – meant to convey the spirit of the Basel tradition.

Years ago, some Waggis fancied a spoof on the Walkman fad as most timely and appropriate. Others rode on the popularity of Rubik’s cube. The avalanche of Japanese goods in the Swiss market then also called for a commentary by one group dressed like geishas. In more recent times, a Chinese theme would perhaps dominate the street show.

As the floats carrying ubiquitous Waggis toured the city at a snail’s pace, mobs excitedly reached out for the goodies being thrown. Clementines in season were sent flyig in different directions. So were candies. Revelers who approached the floats were generously rewarded but not always with edibles. Naughty clown-like Waggis stuffed gaping mouths of women especially with fistfuls of confetti.

The display windows of shops were dressed up in accordance with the Fasnacht mood. Alti Tanti dolls were on sale. So were scrumptious Waggi marzipans. Department stores offered props for instant masquerades. 

A gamut of sights vied for attention everywhere. One bedroom linen retail outlet had a façade redecorated to resemble a venue for peep show or stutzli (one Swiss franc) sex. Voyeurs saw through the narrow slits a Queen-size bed. On it was a sign serving notice that the bedroom performance was being suspended because of the Fasnacht.

During the carnival in Basel, the natives were permitted to poke fun, criticize or condemn events and personalities prominently in the news in the last 12 months. Take, for example, the controversial advertising poster of Rifle jeans then. Swiss authorities in Basel banned a few months earlier the revealing of bare bottoms in the publicity campaign of the jeans brand. More than one carnival float made spoof statements about this.

Lanterns which cost a tidy sum to make also zeroed in on the river pollution question bothering the residents of the center of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in Switzerland. The sex orgy temple patronized by Swiss nationals in Poona, India, was likewise satirized. So was a famous seeress who could not protest the parody about her during the carnival.

The lanterns, hundreds of them, were examined at close range in the exhibition hall. Scribbled on them were witty punch lines and messages more readily understood by local

residents. But the words gave onlookers an insight of the stories behind the designs which were competing for prizes.

In the end, the Alti Tantis and the Waggis who put up a remarkably good show must disband and make their exit from the confetti-littered Basel stage. The costume ball was over. Once more, sobriety returned to the city. But the combined sound of piccolos and drums continued to haunt those privileged to have experienced Fasnacht.

Garfield gives readers a big laugh, a psyche joke or just a nice thought, says creator Jim Davis

By Nancy T. Lu

Meet Jim Davis, the cartoonist behind the fat, lazy and cynical cat named Garfield. He identifies himself with Jon the most in the comic strip. As he put it, “Jon’s the cartoonist. He has the same big cheeks. He is also wishy-washy, a daydreamer.”

The casual and relaxed Davis was quick to add during an interview years ago: “I’m a little of Garfield. I love lasagna. I treat this as a joke. I didn’t realize that some cats do love lasagna. I don’t know if it’s because of the wheat, the cheese, the meat or maybe all of them.”

Jim Davis visited Taipei in 1991 with his wife, Carolyn, and then 12-year-old son, Alexander. As it was possible to know how advanced he had to be with his syndicated comic strip, he managed to get away occasionally whether for business or pleasure.

As the gags which newspaper readers go over each day could have been written six months or even a year ago, Davis made it a habit to tack ideas on the wall and to wait for the right time to use them.

People tended to wonder how Davis, only 46 at the time of the interview but 68 today, did his comic strip. In fact, many of the letters he received – 300 every week on the average in 1991 but many more today – showed his reading public’s curiosity in this area.

“I try to balance the gags,” Davis pointed out. “I don’t want the readers to think that Garfield is predictable.”

Davis also noted: “When people open the newspaper, they don’t know if they are going to get a big laugh, a psyche gag, or just a nice thought. I don’t make people laugh everyday. It is enough that I make them smile or feel better.”

According to the artist behind the Garfield strip carried by 2,000 newspapers all over the world and read by millions of people everyday then, one cartoonist told him that the secret behind a successful cartoon strip is “to get the character hit over the head at least once a week.” Therefore, Davis resorted to the so-called psyche gag.

“I also try to do quotable quotes once a week,” he explained. “Garfield says something that can be repeated. Lines like ‘I’d like mornings better if they started later’ help people cope with life a little better.”

Contrary to what some people may think, comic strip ideas do not come easily to Jim Davis at any time of the day. He revealed: “I have to concentrate very hard. When I am writing, I have to be so deep in my concentration that I sometimes can’t hear the phone ringing.”

Davis at work usually began by visualizing the feline creature in a place that must be very quiet. He elaborated: “I literally see him in my mind’s eye. There he can start forming. I am just a conduit for Garfield. I can create him but he does his own gags.”

He casually described his creative process: “By the time I find myself in a writing mood, my heart rate swells to over a hundred. I’m sweating, my toes are tapping. I can’t keep this up for long stretches of time.

“Writing is too physically exhausting. I can get in and out of it. In fact, it has its peaks and valleys. When the ideas begin coming in a rush, I can’t write fast enough. Three gags may come in a minute and then nothing for an hour.”

He continued: “I watch Garfield in my head. I wait for him to do something funny. He has to make me laugh first. I’m the toughest audience. I try not to second-guess the reader. I feel by and large I’m more of an editor than a writer. It’s easy to have funny thoughts but it’s tough to tell which funny thoughts make people laugh.”

Several second-generation cartoonists in America have carried on the work of their fathers with success. Asked about such possibility in his family, Davis said in 1993: “My son shows interest in what I do. He is, in fact, a much better artist at 12 (at the time of this writer’s encounter with his cartoonist father) than I was. He draws a lot. He does a wonderful job but it’s too early to tell how serious he is. He does have good instincts in judging what makes people laugh.”

The father and the son got together often to sketch. When setting out on the road, they brought along their sketchbooks and found time to draw together.

“Hopefully there will be some life to Garfield later on,” Davis thought out loud.

Successful as he has been, Davis shows interest in the works of his fellow cartoonists. In fact, many of them he could call his good friends. Only a month earlier before his Taipei trip, he played golf with Johnny Hart in the B.C. Open in upstate New York.

“Johnny Hart can draw a rock and make it look funny while I draw rock with a difference,” remarked Davis. This big fan of the B.C. strip, however, claimed that he was a better golfer.

Mort “Beetle Bailey” Walker was the cartoonist whom Davis wanted very much to meet at the time of his launching of the Garfield strip back in 1978. In a way, Walker influenced him, he admitted.

The late Dik Browne, in the opinion of Jim Davis, was one of the most well-loved cartoonists in history. Dik Browne, the creator of Hagar the Horrible, began working with Mort Walker on the strip called Hi and Lois in 1953. His two sons – Chance Browne of Hi and Lois today and Chris Browne of Hagar the Horrible – have followed in his footsteps and found success as cartoonists.

The artwork of Garfield is done today by the staff of Jim Davis. “We practice together every morning to control the consistency of the drawing,” he said. “There are 15 artists (actually more today) in the staff but not all of them are allowed to draw the character. Several are.”

What does Davis do when he is not working on Garfield, which is actually a full-time job? Or, how does he escape from escapism? He reads nonfiction like medical journals and cookbooks. As he likes wines, he pores over wine journals. He picks up trade magazines. He reads “anything that’s real.”

As for psychology, he considers it to be fiction.

“Young artists who send me their work tend to put in too many words,” said Davis when asked to reflect on the topic of humor. “They try to draw too well. I also ask myself what it is about the cartoons of Johnny Hart and Mort Walker that makes me laugh. I also ponder on why B.C. lines are funny. When Johnny Hart draws a rock, it’s funny. How can there be so few lines and so much expression? As it turns out, it’s a lack of discipline….It’s an attitude not only in writing but in artwork as well. The more you do it, the better you get.”

The personnel working for Davis back in 199l numbered 50. Three handled the fan mail broken down into 35 categories to facilitate reply. Some readers were autograph seekers. Others wanted to tell cat stories. From them, Davis picked up good situations for the comic strip.

Davis, however, made it a rule to be very careful about the sensitivity of the comic strip followers. In fact, Garfield did not tread on grounds like politics and religion to avoid triggering controversies.

The strips from Davis at one point showed Jon’s misbehavior while on a date, and this coincided with the debates on sexual harassment in the United States at that time.

A mother and a daughter took the trouble of writing to object to the mention of witches by Garfield, saying witchcraft was “a religion not to be treated with sacrilege.”  

“People try to read things that are not there,” said Davis.

In 1987, Jon went on a blind date with a caller who dialed a wrong number. Although she had a very nice voice, she turned out to be “the size of a barn” – in short, too big. Thus, she had to enter the house through the garage. Fat men wrote to object to Davis’ treatment of fat women.

Davis took precaution not to offend, revealing: “I keep some people in mind at times when I do a gag. Will it offend my parents? Will my wife understand it?”

Davis heads Paws, Inc., a company engaged in the merchandising of Garfield products ranging from the hot water bottle to the aquarium. Many were made in Taiwan in the 1990s. He described his studio as a room measuring 40 feet in width and 150 feet in length and holding 6,000 samples of Garfield products being marketed in the world. Davis was thinking about setting up a museum in Indiana, U.S.A. Garfield’s legions of followers just keep growing more than three decades after his birth. 




(Note: Photo of Jim Davis was downloaded from Internet.)

Contemporary Filipino artist Raul Isidro looks back to 48 years of passion for art

By Nancy T. Lu

If an artist’s living and working space says something about him as an individual, then the interior of Raul Isidro’s three-story property in Paranaque gives away how organized he is. The walls at every turn are literally crowded with his colorful works of art. The paintings capturing his changing styles in making art statements are carefully arranged, in fact, maximizing in an interesting way the use of limited space and giving the impression of a private gallery and showroom ready to warmly welcome friends, art lovers and buyers.

 

Eight years ago, this very structure was a drab garment factory. For three months after acquiring it, Isidro personally oversaw the house renovation. Each day, he would sketch on the wall what he would like the hired workers to do to completely transform the place. He made sure that there was considerable storage room for his creative output before their gradual turnover to buying collectors. He even gave instruction to have a part of the roof done differently to allow the sunlight in. Changes were introduced section by section to suit the new owner’s personality and, of course, needs.

And now Isidro’s property has become a house of memories of an extraordinary art career. On display are his masterpieces from his different periods of art experimentation, highlighting his shifting reliance on different media of expression.

Early on, he chose the path of abstract expressionism and very rarely returned to figurative art. For a while he seemed very fascinated with the circular and oval form. But he also brought in diverse geometric shapes and patterns to make his inspired statements on art.

His play with colors dominated exhibits, too. Solid hues and shades introduced in his collections of abstract landscapes were a rich visual feast. In more recent times, his incorporating of the glitter of gold yielded dazzling art. His use of gold leaf began when he was living in the United States.

The still very active artist has come a long way since his student days when he sold his first small watercolor for a mere five pesos and also since his first one-man show featuring paintings inspired by man’s first landing on the moon in 1969. That year, American astronaut Neil Armstrong made that one big step for mankind. Isidro, too, marked his milestone as artist in 1969, announcing his readiness to hold his own at a one-man show at the La Solidaridad Gallery in Manila. After more than 50 solo exhibitions, he is now seriously considering an expansion of the second floor of his property near Taguig to satisfy his craving for a bigger working space. He intends to hold many more exhibits.

The 70-year-old Raul Isidro, a native of Calbayog, Samar, looks back today to a 48-year career filled with acclaimed creativity in painting, printmaking and even in sculpture, something attested to by his collection of awards over the years. He even earned special recognition as Ten Outstanding Young Men or TOYM awardee for the plastic arts in 1979. The artist, ever shining in his profession of choice, became a recipient of the “Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan” Araw ng Maynila Award in 1998. UST, his alma mater, gave him the Outstanding Thomasian Award for Fine Arts in 2006 and the Outstanding Samareno Award in 2011.

Isidro majored in advertising arts at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) College of Fine Arts for practical reason. Artists in those days were doomed to starve. Such was the common belief. Parents, therefore, were unlikely to approve a daughter’s entertainment of a painter suitor, recalled Isidro. His teachers included Victorio Edades and Galo Ocampo.

After graduating from UST in 1965, Isidro wanted very much not just to paint but also to join the prestigious Shell National Student Art Competition. As he needed to be a painting student to qualify, he returned to UST for painting lessons. Isidro was turned away though.

The young Raul Isidro ended up in the fine arts department at the Philippine Women’s University. As a PWU student, he finally competed and won. His “Way In” garnered second prize when he submitted it to the Shell National Student Art Competition back in 1967. In addition, he received a certificate of merit for his “Genesis of Man.”

A random look at Isidro’s albums of old newspaper clippings leads to the discovery that the erstwhile student of PWU won first honorable mention (100 pesos and a certificate) at the 1967 on-the-spot painting contest sponsored by the U.P. President’s Commission on Culture and the School of Fine Arts. His “Lunar Orbit” from his first-ever one-man show was similarly a first honorable mention winner at the Art Association of the Philippines annual competition in 1969. He kept up his winning streak, settling for no less than the first prize at the Printmakers Association of the Philippines annual exhibition and competition in 1972.

In his younger days, Isidro also made a name as a very promising sculptor. At the on-the-spot painting and woodcarving contest at the Third National Art Festival in Baguio in 1968, he placed second in the woodcarving category. Diego Silang was the subject of the woodcarving competition. 

The First National Sculpture Exhibition and Competition under the sponsorship of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) in 1968 saw Isidro’s “Apocalypse” declared a major winner in the outdoor sculpture category. Isidro, rather popular among fellow artists, eventually went on to be elected to serve as AAP president.

For his major exhibition to mark his first year as a septuagenarian, he promised to bring out some of his prize-winning works from the period when he was just starting out as an artist, meaning the late 1960s.

To pack up in preparation for a move to the United States years ago, he entrusted his prodigious artistic output to friends here and there for safekeeping. Some eventually got sold. But following his return to Manila after 10 years of living and pursuing his artistic calling mainly in California, Isidro failed to recover completely his works of art, including some winning entries not just in painting but also in sculpture.

A succession of two fires in 1977 – first at Isidro’s ancestral home in Calbayog and the second one at PWU - left him shattered. Many of his paintings from his first one-man show in 1969 were put away by him for storage in the spacious family house in the province of Samar. When fire gutted the place, his sibling tried to save the house, not realizing that proceeds from the sale of the invaluable collection of paintings, if saved, would suffice to cover the cost of rebuilding the razed structure. Isidro was also devastated to find his many paintings which were left in the PWU campus burned during another fire not long after. A painting which won second place in a contest was destroyed and lost forever during that heartbreaking year.  

Perhaps after misfortune struck not once but twice that year, he realized that material wealth and labors of love like paintings with high market value can turn into ashes and vanish leaving no trace without warning. But very significant in Isidro’s life are his sincere efforts towards leaving a meaningful and lasting legacy through his constant offer of help to aspiring young artists in many ways, including conducting art workshops to teach and encourage them.

Many artists who call Isidro mentor have fond recollections of his generosity in passing on his art knowledge and in sharing his experimental art experiences. His readiness to teach his art techniques indicates that he is a man confident in his success in the art world.

As president of the Philippine Association of Printmakers, Isidro initiated the project called “Bakat ng Limbag Sining” from August to December 2001. The traveling printmaking workshop and exhibition of fine prints by prominent Filipino printmakers moved around the country for several months. Isidro was there as teacher of printmaking most of the time. Covered were Baguio, Angeles City, Manila, Calbayog, Tagbilaran, Kalibo, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao and Butuan. 

Over the years, Isidro kept himself very busy and focused, holding since the mid-1970s exhibitions mainly of his abstract art. He unveiled his “Landscapes” and “Impressions” collections at the Yellow Door Gallery at the Power Plant Mall in 2007 and 2009 respectively. In 2012, the Crucible Gallery at the Mega Mall in Mandaluyong City was the venue of his one-man print show titled “Senakulo sa Crucible.”

Isidro is preparing for his big retrospective show at the Ayala Museum in Makati from December 2 this year to January 11.early next year. About 100 paintings will hang in the museum’s main gallery. In addition, there will be some smaller works.

Art collectors and aficionados will have a rare opportunity to walk down Memory Lane with Isidro, whose passion for art and whose creative energy have not diminished with the passing of the years. A part of his house of memories in Paranaque – specifically his selected paintings – will be transferred to the Ayala Museum for a few weeks to tell his ongoing success story. The shapes, the lines and the colors of Isidro’s artistic vision and imagination will return to the limelight to mirror fascinating glimpses in a modern art kaleidoscope.