Living with Filipino art

To say that the house of Julius Babao and wife Christine "Tintin" Bersola-Babao is filled with Filipino art is putting it mildly. You literally trip over paintings in this modern house tucked in a quiet Quezon City subdivision. The foyer looks like a gallery of Expressionist art and sculpture. These are not "pretty" subjects: no flowers or landscapes or pastoral scenes here. In their place are bald men with contorted faces, bizarre circus scenes, pained expressions, confusion, defiance, and, well, just plain weird. Here, too, are works by Gabby Barredo, the master of fantastic sculptures in metal.

That’s just the foyer – and the store room. That’s how many paintings there are – some pieces are actually stored in bubble wrap under the stairs.

In the living room, however, the themes change dramatically. Mostly everything is abstract in tones of black, brown, and white. If you drop all pretenses about what you know about art, it would be interesting to note the contrast between the two rooms – in one, full of meaning and symbolism, and in the other, well, you do have to search for meaning in a Bernie Pacquing painting (just as I have, with futility, since he burst on the art scene in the latter part of the 1990s).

On the second floor hallway, the most dominant effects are the glass-covered shelves filled with Star Wars figures. Apart from Filipino art, Julius’ other passion is collecting 12-inch Star Wars figures. They’re all here – Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Hans Solo, Boba Fett, Lando Calrissian, the droids, the storm troopers, even George Lucas, and the characters that came in the prequels.

That’s the way Julius Babao pictured his dream house in his head years before he actually built it – well, perhaps not the four-foot-tall Yoda that guards the action figures – but for as long as he can remember, he wanted a modern house, a far cry from the one he grew up in in Pangasinan. Today, in a place that’s filled with all interpretations of Mediterranean design, the Babao house, with the original design by architect Conrad Onglao, stands apart for its lack of red-tiled roof and bright colors. Instead, what you get is a white box on a sloping terrain with great views of mountains. That’s also what inspired Julius to build a modern house: It’s useless to have picture windows when your views are of your neighbor’s laundry area.

Julius began collecting paintings about 10 years ago almost by accident. He was walking in a mall and there was an exhibit of Onib Olmedo’s works that stopped him in his tracks. "I didn’t know much about the local art scene then. When I saw Onib’s work, I liked it and I asked how much the paintings were. One painting was around P90,000, it was too expensive for me. I think Onib had just died then and his last works were on exhibit."

So he skipped Onib and bought a painting by a lesser known artist. "It was Korina Sanchez who encouraged me to invest in local art. She told me to get established artists, but I couldn’t afford it on my salary then. My first big investment was a Malang worth P15,000, a small pastel. The next purchase was an Onib na." And then the BenCabs followed, HR Ocampo, and Arturo Luz.

In the gallery-foyer, there are works by Onib Olmedo, Mark Justiniani, Elmer Borlongan, Ang Kiukok, and Manuel Garibay. Malang’s vendors and a 1965 abstract by HR Ocampo on an easel are the only exception to the running theme. Julius explains, "I find works by Amorsolo beautiful, the landscapes, farm scenes and all, but they’re just not me. I’m more drawn to dark themes."

"When I was beginning to study the art scene, I met Dr. Joven Cuanang of Pinto Gallery and he introduced me to new artists such as Mark Justiniani, Elmer Borlongan, and Manuel Garibay. When I saw their paintings, it was like a discovery. Wow, meron palang ganitong artists apart from the more established ones like Onib. The prices of their works were lower and they were so prolific there was so much to choose from. That’s how I started buying young artists."

He became friends with the older artists like Ang Kiukok who would do works specifically for Tintin and Julius. In fact, a painting hangs on the second floor of the couple’s home – flying – which they used in their wedding invitation.

It was hit and miss at first, Julius admits. "Buying art is, in a way, speculating. You will really go through the process of making the wrong choices. I just looked at it as helping young artists. You never know until after a few months that you’ve been with a painting na pangit pala."

Then there’s another side of Julius: The one that loves abstract art. He doesn’t go for the colorful works, but rather the monochromatic works of Lao Lianben, Bernie Pacquing, and Gus Albor.

The way Julius talks about his house would make you think this was his firstborn. In many ways, it was. He bought a house book every week for a year and he was working so hard to save enough money to get it done. In the middle of the construction, he had to sell some paintings, which to this day he regrets. "But actually, the paintings saved me kasi nagipit ako noon, I overspent on the finishing and furnishings." The way he looks at it, it was the paintings that built the house.

"I sold a few Justinianis and Ang Kiukoks and they happen to be my favorite artists."

There was only one problem with the house: It was designed for a bachelor. "We finished the house before Tintin and I got married. I told architect Conrad Onglao I wanted a loft. Natatawa siya because ang liit ng space (the lot is about 500 sq.m.). So finally, he did design a modern house with a loft. He designed it initially and the implementation of the design was by architects Eddie Reboliedo and Arnulfo Torres. Everything that you see here was part of my brief to the architects. I didn’t think about my eventual married life with Tintin and kids. Medyo selfish nga eh."

Before they even laid the first stone, Julius and Tintin dropped a time capsule that contained a rosary, coins, a picture of the couple, blueprints of the house, and a letter. A letter to whom? Julius chuckles and says, "Sa mga laman lupa – na aalagaan ang bahay. We had so many consultants – feng shui, enkantada expert, psychic, etc. They told us there were dwarves here, and before we started building, we offered some food like chicken and eggs. It’s weird, but we noticed that frogs – which are a symbol of fortune – were always in the house. I don’t know where they were coming from – there were frogs on the trees, on the ground, on the walls. We just left them alone."

Tintin says, "When they were building the house, Julius would be here every single day to check on the progress. He was that dedicated."

These days, another dream is being nurtured in Julius’ mind. Someday, he says, he’ll be able to buy the lot next door and build another modern house with a bridge connecting the "twin towers" and a pool in between. His ideas are so down to the detail he’s even asking himself now whether the bridge would be all glass or not.

This time, Tintin would have her way. She recalls with a laugh that back when they were building this house, she had only one request: A space for all her clothes and shoes. When she first saw the six closets in the master’s bedroom, her first thought was: Where would she put her shoes? So she suggested that the attic be converted into her dressing room with rows and rows of steel bars to accommodate her clothes – the formal gowns, the travel and cold-weather clothes that she doesn’t use for her daily TV show.

She relates with a laugh, "You know the store room at the bottom of the stairs? It’s supposed to be for paintings only. Enter Christine – now it has luggage, bags, and shoes."

With the recent arrival of Julius and Tintin’s first baby, Antonia, the home has taken on a new atmosphere. It may still look like a bachelor’s pad or a newlyweds’ home, but it now has a brighter feel.

"Suddenly, there’s some color in the house because of the baby stuff," says Tintin who, apart from her weekday morning show and weekend radio show with Julius, is also the spokesperson of Nestle Nutrition and is helping spread the good word on breastfeeding. "We can’t just be black and white anymore or else the baby’s brain won’t get stimulated – no wonder all baby things are colorful."

Antonia will soon change the design of the house. It needs to be baby-proofed. While the stainless steel railing on the second floor, overlooking the living room, is very striking, it is also an accident waiting to happen. The couple has plans of having it covered with tempered glass for when Antonia learns to crawl or walk.

A renovation is also called for on the second floor. There are only two rooms here – the master’s bedroom and a media room – because of the double-volume ceiling. So the terrace will soon be converted into a nursery.

Tintin says, "The nursery/playroom, which used to be a guestroom, is in the lower part of the house while Antonia, who’s being breastfed, stays in the master’s bedroom. We have another crib in the master’s bedroom because I breastfeed her every two hours, but when she’s been weaned, she should have her own room. I want her to know independence early."

With Antonia’s christening last weekend, Tintin plans to take her on her every assignment out of town. "There’s a hollow feeling when she’s not with me. I recently took her to Subic when we did a show there and I heard people saying bakit sinama ang liit pa niya, but who cares? With Dyan Castillejo and her son Matthew, I like what I see. Even when she’s climbing a mountain, Matthew is with her so he has developed amazing social skills. I want Antonia to develop that, I don’t want her to be shy or an introvert. Others might say masyadong showbiz or she might get exposed to disease. I look at it differently – I want her to be with me all the time; kung sa bahay lang mabobobo ang bata."

The couple leaves the house at 4 a.m. to do their early-morning show and Tintin takes the baby to ABS-CBN while Julius is doing TV Patrol and then they have dinner out.

Julius adds, "Nowadays, I’m so excited to come home and play with my baby."

Pretty soon, artworks of a different kind may be decorating the Babao home: Not dark, not beautiful, just valuable and heartwarming crayon drawings.