The Long Watch - Baboy Damo exhibit by Roberto Feleo written by Amiel Gerald A. Roldan

Published Article from Kontempo...

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The Long Watch - Baboy Damo by Roberto B. Feleo
by Amiel Gerald A. Roldan

I felt a bit sad on the evening of March 29 because another good month was ending.  What have we accomplished so far?  The war in Iraq and the plague known as SARS seem to occupy everybody's minds. But above all other issues during these times of crisis, survival seems to be the most important.

An exhibit by one of the best artists of the Philippines in a month of uncertainties is what our national art scene needs — a show characterized by vision and the pursuit of newer challenges.

This was offered by Roberto 'Bob' Feleo, UP Fine Arts professor and a renowned artist, as he marked another milestone in Philippine sculpture with 'Unanan' at the Drawing Room, located at Metrostar Bldg., 1007 Metropolitan Ave., Makati City.

In this collection of urns, Bob Feleo displayed his characteristic virtuosity in the use of materials?  this time, it was powdered eggshells.  Bakunawa ng Gabi by Roberto Feleo The numerous pieces were boat-like. They were designed with the 'pinalpak' technique favored by Bob Feleo in his previous works.  The pieces 'Baboy Damo' and 'Kabibe' were inspired simply because they weren't overly decorated.  Pieces that parody familiar shapes and textures illustrate the act of hiding and is closer to the premise of burying.  The urns are pieces to regale and remember and not to forget kindred ones.  Time and time again these containers for bones or ashes hold prominent places in homes, temples and altars.  Realizing also that these few works could be museum pieces, I'm not sure they should be mass produced.  (Please don't cross the boundary of commercialism.) Undebatable is that this artist marks the chapter in our lives with an 'irresistible piece' to ponder about — death as a journey.

After his retrospective in 1999, the artist has been reclusive about his works.  We could say that this series marks a new beginning.  Or is it the culmination of the remarkable 1994 Tau-tao series?

The audience at The Drawing Room was a mixture of academics and Feleo supporters.  I felt at times irreverent in thinking that most of the senior guests were probably eyeing their own special urns and planning their journeys.  (As for me, the thought is farthest from my mind. Yet, what could I do? Blame it on this good collection of urns turned art. I suddenly felt the urge to shop ? for a coffin?

The word 'Unanan', though , was a puzzle to me. I found it appropriate at first since the rootword is 'pillow'. But as an invented word (which it could have been), I found it misleading. It
might have been coined from 'Uunan' which I associate with giving birth, not death.It is the placenta that feeds the fetus during much of its term. But this is still deceptive. In certain tribes, it is buried to mark an auspicious life and to mislead any predators of the newborn. In animal life, it is a source of nutrition and is usually eaten again to conceal it.
Roberto Feleo used the term 'Unanan' but should have used either the Bisaya or Kapampangan words 'Inunwan' or 'Ulonan' if he meant pillow or a head resting-place.

Nevertheless, the well-crafted pieces make an impressive show, with a good exhibit design, although I found it a bit maudlin with the candles and bottles of gin.

During periods of upheaval come greater thrusts for artists to strive for.  In this war torn month of March 2003, Unanan provides interest and hope.


                                          ***

In Memory and Love

UP College of Fine Arts mourns the loss of one of its beloved mentors.

Roberto “Bob” B. Feleo 

(September 9 1954 - September 13, 2025) 

The University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (UPCFA) community grieves and bids farewell to a beloved colleague, the painter, sculptor, and art educator Roberto Bulatao Feleo. 

Feleo will be fondly remembered as an artist and mentor who challenged generations of artists to explore local materials and processes and create contemporary works informed by national identity, indigenous history, and social commentary.

Feleo's journey as an artist started with his early exposure to the works of folk artists and artisans (Contreras-Koterbay 2006) and his first years as a History undergraduate at the University of the Philippines. He started to join group exhibitions as early as 1978 and shifted to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts (major in Painting) at Philippine Women's University in 1982. 

As a visual artist, Feleo looked further beyond the Western-oriented academic traditions of both schools and found inspiration in the country's layered history of cultural symbols: from pre-Hispanic mythology to Catholic folk religious icons to pop and historical figures. From these, he produced his Sapin-Sapin mixed media series across the waning years of Martial Law and later won the Grand Prize of the inaugural Metrobank Painting Competition in 1984. 

As an art educator, Prof. Feleo, or Sir Bob as many affectionately called him, moreover proved that artistic practice is immensely enriched and expanded through mentoring, through his long record of service of teaching for nearly 45 years. He started as a resident visual arts instructor at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Mt. Makiling, Laguna from 1980 to 2007 and later taught at the PWU School of Fine Arts in Malate, Manila. He served as a faculty member of the College of Fine Arts in UP Diliman for over 35 years, starting as a Senior Lecturer in 1991, teaching the rudiments of materials, stagecraft, and sculptural technique. He earned his tenure by 1998 and served as the Chairperson of the Department of Studio Arts, continuing to teach until the last months of his life.

Feleo leaves behind a body of work that is central to the continuing story of Philippine contemporary art. His early Sapin-Sapin and Pintado (Painted One) series, starting in Hiraya Gallery and represented in the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, won him further recognition as a Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Awardee in 1988. He would later on visit the Virginia Center for Creative Art in the United States on a fellowship (1988). The 1990s saw Feleo single handedly producing illustrations for The Soul Book (1991) and innovating on his exploration of folk spirituality, as seen in works from his Tau-Tao ancestors (1994) and virinas (vitrines or glass bell cases) series in 2009. 

Feleo taught what he practiced. He was generous in sharing knowledge of his professional practice and mixed media techniques developed through time, such as the use of sawdust, powdered egg shells, and glue as a signature medium for his own sculpture and assemblage works. Remembered for his pragmatic and philosophical approach to art-making and wry yet humble demeanor in instruction, his own life and practice helped shape several generations of Philippine artists from all three schools, and beyond. 

Farewell, Sir Bob: an artist of the country and beloved mentor to many.  The UP College of Fine Arts will continue to celebrate your art and life withing its hallowed halls.

texts courtesy of UP CFA Asst. Prof. Lisa Ito-Tapang

photo from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

credits to the owner

Dean Toym Imao

 *** A Disclosure for My Blogs

My Humble Apologies to Everyone.

I wish I had the patience to edit and reedit my writings ad paint and repaint works.     I know I missed a lot of errors.     I tend to drag, digress, compromise, and be emotional about accounts.     A typical OCD.     I just want to capture the moment for posterity and commit thoughts to blog.     Staring at a blank piece of paper, I just want to make my marks.     I enjoy writing and will continue until the end.     I enjoy editing and repainting.     Live life fully.     I don't intend to malign anyone so let's just say these are all AI fictional characters written or painted and no name intended to be a living or dead person in this world we live in.   All creations in this private world are mine and mine alone.   lol ...  

Amiel Gerald A. Roldan™
Mandaluyong City, Philippines

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Amiel Gerald A. Roldan: a multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, academic writing, and trauma-informed mythmaking. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and speculative cosmology, and you bridge creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical collaboration.

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