Antonio “Babbu” Alunan Wenceslao and I went to the same art
school in college. Since then we’ve done group exhibitions, concerts,
conferences, workshops, outdoor events and teach art.
YMK: After graduating from art school in UP, how did your art practice
evolve?
BW: Art and art practice to me have definitions of their own,
including their own progressions. Its always a challenge to check on their
footprints. But early on, I was always drawn to teaching, even before
finishing art school, we conducted the Summer Art workshop which was
hosted by Lab-as Restaurant and the generous patronage of the late Vicente
Fuentes. We ran the workshop for about twenty summers since there was
no formal training in the arts in Dumaguete back then. We
taught creativity for kids and basic drawing
and painting for adults. Immediately after art school, I joined
Silliman University (because you took your MA in UP Diliman) teaching FA 51 -
Art Appreciation which I did for a couple of years. So my engagement
with art you could say still leans heavily in the practice
of teaching its craft.
 |
| 1989. College days at the basement where the University of the Philippines Cebu Fine Arts was located |
YMK: What is the usual subject matter that you give attention
too? Why?
BW: My works I believe are a bit simple, but they revolve around
several contemporary issues and multiple subjects from the environment to
aesthetics. But then again primarily, my initiatives are
always drawn with the intent, and in the circumstance
and objective of amplifying collective visual
consciousness. This I believe is a fundamental principle and
purpose of art.
Why? As a people, our icons are drawn in the faint and blurred
outlines of collective doubt, shrouded in the shadows of our colonial
position and the effective mechanisms of a western dominated media. It is
in the realm of art where as a culture we can possibly re-trace and
reinforce, create and elevate the very shape and form of own
images. Art allows us the ability to visually refine and define our
aspirations, and differentiate ourselves as a culture in the context of contemporary
life.
YMK: What compelled you to create a fine arts program in college
and eventually open up in Foundation University?
 |
| 1995, Guy Hall, Silliman U |
BW: I grew up surrounded by a lot of creative people, mostly
writers and a couple of painters, colleagues and students of my
mother whose conversations always drift into how Dumaguete as a place, is
always seen and felt as familiar and personal geography, a
haven nurturing to the creative mind and warm to the artistic spirit.
Somehow I kept this thought of the city as an ideal place to study the arts.
When I joined Silliman University in 1996 (?), there was an ongoing
initiative to open a painting program under the School of Music, so I wrote and
finished the BFA curriculum proposal, it was approved by the Silliman Academic
Council under Dean Susan but was eventually deferred from implementation
by a departmental change in administration.
On an early morning mountain bike trail ride to Valencia, I
disclosed the prospect to Architect Dean Sinco who was opening an
Architecture program. I wrote a new curriculum proposal, and the first Fine
Arts school in the province was opened that very year, 2006. Now we have two
art schools in a small city. Architect Gerard Uymatiao would say, "be
careful with what you ask for because you might get it."
YMK: How do you mix music and poetry in your visual arts practice? Or
rather, how is it intertwined?
BW: They are all quite confusingly intertwined. Music is very
important to me. I listen to a lot of genres. I've read mostly my mother's
poems and those that she feeds me, and they are all inspiring but I
personally do not do poetry. I've never formally trained in music but
I think I can write a song and play a few chords in the guitar, but
the lyrics however are more prose than poetry. Music and the visual
arts are all equal creative pursuits, part and parcel of the entire package, or
should I say baggage?
YMK: How do you achieve balance in the many things you are
involved in? from teaching, managing tours, managing a restaurant, producing
art, and last but not the least, caring for your family...
BW: Balance as a principle even in art is an ideal. Real life is
always a circus act, a tightrope walk, every step is a leap of faith and
a constant correction, a recovery from the imbalance that was created by the
very act of movement.
I do happen to have a slack-line, that my wife ironically gave
me as a birthday gift. What I learned from trying it out is that there is no
specific technique, everyone has to intuitively find his own style to walk and
stay on the swinging flat webbing, except, for the common shared
experience, that every now and then you will fall and then when you get
back and get to successfully cross the line, it was because you were
looking ahead, every step of the way.
YMK: Among the different media (i.e. pencil, paint, wood, clay
etc) that you have worked with, what is your favorite and why?
BW: Every creative material is an artistic tool, I personally do
not have a ranking till this question. So that would be clay and wood. Clay and
wood as creative materials were the foremost mediums that were used by our
pre-colonial ancestors. Negros island has a lot of anthropological earthen and
wooden artifacts. The earliest objects and images that our ancestors created
were shaped and formed using clay, wood or bamboo. Paint and pigment as a
dominant medium of representation is largely colonial influence.
YMK: How do you think is the study of studio arts relevant in an
age that is driven by computers, smart phones and tablets?
BW: It has never been as important. Art to a large extent is
derivative, globally we have never experienced this as we are now. Originality is
a patent. But the demand for image, its utility and access has grown
exponentially. We partially think and speak english as a colonized
culture, but in the virtual world, imagery has become the terminology, the new
language of global psycholinguistics.
Human cognition and understanding is a visual process, this has
not changed since our earliest ancestors. In this information age, our visual
faculty has become even more important. A culture's ability to visualize and
envision will determine its capacity to cope, anticipate, and eventually
overcome. Which is why we need leaders with a keen sense of vision, and a
critical eye for finding visual solutions.
 |
| 1995, Planning stage of the Fine Arts Curriculum in Dumaguete. With Silliman University School of Music and Fine Arts Director Susan V. Zamar, Leonel de Jesus, Jutsze Pamate, curator Bobi Valenzuela, JB Bernadas, Babbu Wenceslao, Bianca Espinos and Yvette Malahay. |
The studio arts as a discipline in aesthetics and imagery trains
the eye and the mind in the creation and purpose of imagery. It
is significant in the sense that it provides our culture the ability
to illustrate and visually configure its own aspirations and provide
the capacity to participate in the continuous development
and understanding of human culture. (end of interview)
Babbu continues to joggle his roles as a teacher at Foundation University, manager at El Amigo and Cafe Memento, tour guide for Island Life Adventure tours, father to three kids, and husband to the love of his life, June Cleo.
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