Camote Diggers by Botong Francisco

Camote Diggers, an oil canvas painting by Botong Francisco is somewhat similar to the
Tagalog folk song “Magtanim Ay ‘Di Biro”. It showcases the same concept and mentality of hard
work and how a person bends over just to plant or harvest to ensure a better future for one’s self
and their family. Francisco’s “Camote Diggers” was made in 1969, not a little longer before his
passing due to a heart attack, hence leaving the canvas unfinished. The piece, which was
painted after World War II, is about "art after the war" at a time when the nation is still healing
from the conflict. The painting illustrates an old woman who happens to be a forlorn, and
woeful-looking young man digging for camote. The old woman undertakes a substantial amount
of physical activity as she is the one doing the work while the young man holds the camotes —
one of the staple foods — for her. The camote diggers, a rural subject wearing only simple
clothes against an unfinished backdrop, is the embodiment of hard labor and perseverance. The
two subjects also showcase hunger and poverty by the way they are bent to harvest their meal.
The collarbone below their necks is projecting, making the diggers appear practically skeletal.
Further analysis suggests that the two subjects, who are bowed by poverty, their hands and feet
lumped by starvation, and their backs crushed by life, indicate how poverty can extend to
several generations (Nakpil, 2019). The painting makes me reflect on our country and society.
How many Filipinos are like the subjects in the painting? How many camote diggers could there
possibly be? To think that this painting is dated back to 1969, a whole 53 years, and yet it is still
relevant to us as viewers of today’s society. Camote Diggers is also somewhat similar to Vincent
van Gogh’s painting, ‘The Potato Eaters’, wherein it illustrates the grim reality of rural existence.
He gave his subjects bony, hard-working hands and coarse faces, just like the old woman and
young man in Francisco’s painting. Both the “Camote Diggers” and ‘The Potato Eaters’ share
the same painting style. Botong Francisco created Camote Diggers in a social realism style
while Van Gogh’s ‘The Potato Eaters’ is within realism and expressionism. The larger unfinished
canvas shows half the background in a bold red color and the other half in a serene beige.
Ironically, the bold red color is in the background of the forlorn old woman which sends a
message of determination, hardship, and the war on poverty; that even if you work hard and
make an effort, most times, it is not enough. That is the sad reality of it, especially for plain folks
such as farmers and fishermen. The serene beige background sends a message of simplicity,
sensitivity, and resiliency that even if the subjects are in a poor situation, they still try their best
to fight and endure for them to be able to survive. The red, white, and blue in the background,
as per historian and curator Ambeth Ocampo, is intended to depict the Philippine flag as a
reference to "our tragic nation, both then and now”. The painting depicts the reality of a Filipino
who must work hard to meet his or her demands while also appearing to be left behind in our
nation due to rapid advancements.

Madonna of the Slums by Vicente Manansala

Madonna of the Slums, a modernist painting by Vicente Manansala in the 1950s is, I
believe, a Filipino variation of Madonna of the Rocks by Renaissance painter, Leonardo Da
Vinci, but in a totally different sense and context. The subject of ‘Madonna of the Slums’ was a
mother carrying a child. It was clearly illustrated in the painting, which also had houses that
were typically found in slang ghettos or densely inhabited residential districts as a background.
It reflects the era's sense of fear and uncertainty. Vicente Manansala is recognized for using
luminous and transparent materials in his craft. It encapsulates the simplicity and profundity of
his artwork. According to the Philippine Art Gallery, there was a considerable increase in social
awareness of various cultural identities, post-world war II, which Vicente started to delicately
portray in his own work. His paintings used repetition of shape and form to show the
fundamental bond between members of both family and society as well as everyday typical
situations of urban living and slums. His graphical approach may be overly concise and
uncomplicated, yet it nevertheless transmits a passionate and compelling message. The
traditional interpretation of his work emphasizes the lives of those who seek sanctuary in urban
slums as they were born there, but they grew up not caring about the constant changes caused
by modernity and economic expansion. Madonna is dressed in shabby attire, and her child has
no garments whatsoever, which depicts the presence of poverty. The main subject shows a
sharp, attentive mother holding her child's hand to her face in a protective effort against life's
rough realities. This gives me a clear sight of a mother’s love for her child. A mother would
never leave her child, regardless of how difficult life could be (Gallano, 2016). The utilization of
brown hues emphasizes both the discomfort of those who reside there in addition to the filthy,
ragged aspect of the slums with their roofs constructed from leftover materials (Pcan, 2020). We
can detect that it was purposefully picked by looking at how well the colors fit the concept or
story it conveys by how dark and lifeless they are. Manansala's use of the transparent cubism
method emphasizes the theme and narrative of his painting much more, increasing its impact.
His creative use of shades with the proper value and sharpness provides an illusion of realism
(Mesina, 2020). Just like in Francisco’s ‘Camote Diggers’, Madonna of the Slums also reflects
Filipinos' lives in our country. An example of this is Tondo, the largest slum in the nation’s
capital. The largest slum in the nation's capital is called Tondo. Because of the absence of
consistent, respectable work and accessible welfare services like health care and education, it
has a high rate of poverty. Many of the locals make very little money by scavenging and laboring
at the neighboring docks. Given that they were born there, they are familiar with the area and its
tiny streets, but it seems as though they are the ones who have been left behind by all of these
remote adjustments.

Gadgets by Cesar Legaspi

Gadgets, an oil canvas painting by pioneer “Neo-Realist”, Cesar Legaspi in 1947 is
known to be one of his most renowned artworks. Legaspi is well recognized for his
cubist-influenced artwork, addressing injustice and inequality and the misery of the laboring
people regularly, which is also evident in ‘Gadgets’. The painting represents the rise in
mechanical prominence during the postwar era of industrialization, in addition to what he saw as
the sneaky danger of human transfiguration into the modernized world (Geringer Art, 2022) In
Legaspi, the more mellow aspects of cubism's artificial phase replaced the analytical phase's
strict ethical approach. To generate a textured composition of colors and shades, his work
expounds the figures into bigger planes that intersect and cut across space in translucent
curved patterns. According to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the
Philippines, In Legaspi’s overlapping, interlocking figures, he used a geometric disintegration
method to weave societal commentary and to juxtapose the legendary and contemporary with
unsettling strength and depth. This oil canvas painting illustrates the dehumanization of people
(Hume, 2021). The artist in this piece of art has portrayed people as more machine-like. Their
arms evolved into machine elements that complemented the gears, tires, and planks found in
factories. Natural skin tones are infused with a blue-green copper color, indicating a change
from natural to mechanical (Guillermo, 2020). The subject's torsos and limbs are rendered
anatomically, giving them a more machine or device appearance than human ones. The artwork
can also be viewed in the context of the underprivileged industrial worker who is accustomed to
decent treatment by an unjust system and demands fair wages for the job that generates a
nation's wealth. The other version of ‘Gadgets’ is filled with a reddish-maroon color. There is
also a hint of green in some parts of the painting. In my view, I see these hues as a
representation of action, strength, passion, and energy of life which can represent the hard work
that the subjects are doing with their labor. But red could also mean war and anger, anger in the
sense that the subjects are ill-paid. The significance of machines throughout the industrial era is
depicted especially if manual labor is not appreciated and valued enough. However, the
painting, shows how manual labor is being turned into somewhat robots of society and just work
and work and work without proper pay. The message of Legaspi’s artwork still foreshadows our
society today wherein there are a lot of laborers who are under-appreciated and poorly paid
despite their hard work and efforts. He utilized his paintings as a critique of the Philippines'
system of forced labor. Especially now that we are in the modern world and a new era is upon
us, we are so consumed by technology and machines that most people are becoming the said
“robots” of society in any context. Not just in the work setting, but also the average day.
Possibly, in the next few years, AI or artificial intelligence would prevail and take over every
possible manual labor that we have right now.

The Builders by Victorio Edades

The Builders, one of the major works of the Father of Modern Philippine Art, Victorio
Edades in 1928, is regarded as the nation's very first Modernist artwork. According to the
National Commission of Culture and the Arts (2016), this artwork, which he created in support of
modernism, demonstrates his growing understanding of and proficiency with contemporary art.
Victorio Edades succeeded in demolishing local artistic norms as well as the clichéd philosophy
he claimed hindered the advancement of Philippine art. The works of Victorio Edades marked a
fundamental change in the canons of Filipino art. This piece of art placed more emphasis on the
linear and structural properties than other graphical aspects, capturing the core of men at work
through the distorted figures. Although there are colleagues nearby, you are nonetheless
entirely alone in your labor, as evidenced by the naked builders and bricks against a dark
background (Santiago, 2012). That is what ‘The Builders’ is trying to convey. It highlighted the
worst aspects of modernity and advancement that would be erected on the shoulders of
unnamed individuals who would never experience any satisfaction, much less get to view or
occupy the buildings they construct. He links modernism to the dilemma of nationalism in
addition to introducing modern paintings into the country (Santos, 2014). It somehow has the
same message as ‘Gadgets’ by Cesar Legaspi, wherein it showcases workers who are not
compensated well despite the effort and hard work being put forward. It also tackles the concept
of modernization and industrialization in terms of labor. His artwork portrayed man interacting
with reality. The same as the modern man, who is essentially a tool for manufacturing and
barely creates or enjoys his life. Just like in ‘Gadgets’, the subjects in ‘The Builders’ can be seen
as robots of society who just work and work and work. Edades' colors were gloomy and
melancholy, with concepts or content showing craftsmen, laborers, or ordinary people in all their
filth, perspiration, and grime (Savage, 2020). There is hardly any white space on the canvas,
and the painting is composed of gray and dark tones without any vibrant colors. The
composition of dark hues in his paintings is striking, at the same time he gives images of the
Filipino masses and their way of life and living as concepts. He displayed figures in muted earth
tones, such as raw sienna and yellow ochre, which were accentuated by sharp black contour
lines. According to Spot Ph (2015). Edades used frenetic, aggressive brushstrokes on figures
that are warped. Due to the imbalances, gloomy hues, and harsh brushwork, which contrast
with the vibrant hues and upbeat settings typical of paintings of the period, it was disliked. By
distorting the subjects and altering their form and proportionality, the artist included them in the
overall composition (Guillermo, 2020). Artist has the freedom to express themselves in a way
that best suits their interpretation of art and personal thoughts and feelings. According to
Lanzilog (2013), one of Victorio Edades’ various methods to convey the form of art is to distort
its constituent parts, such as hue, light, and forms. According to Benesa (1979), the discussions
it prompted about themes of beauty and distortion have since become a part of Philippine art
history.