In the company of angels

Rafael del Casal must have been a cloistered monk in a past life. Likefriars of the Middle Ages who kept to the monasteries, Del Casal prefers to be sequestered within the confines of his home cum atelier somewhere in Quezon City rather than do the rounds of the art scene.

Medieval friars created colorful rubricks for iluminated manuscripts. Del Casal paints angels. One could say that the inspiration for his art is nothing less than heavenly.

Angels have always been a staple subject in art. In the ’80s alone, there were more than 10,000 songs written about them. The number is higher when it comes to the visual arts and graphic design, specially if one takes into account how far back in art history artists have depicted these celestial beings. One only has to remember the puttys that adorn many a Renaissance painting all the way to the logo of Angel Records.

Owing to our colonial heritage, we in the Philippines have been used to the western concept of angels. Religious pantings commissioned for churches often feature cherubs in the mode of those done by Raphael. Even the label of the popular local gin, Ginebra San Miguel, is drawn in the western mode.

Del Casal’s angels are different. Just like the master Galo Ocampo rendered the Blessed Virgin as a native lass in his landmark painting "The Brown Madonna," Del Casal’s angels possess truly Filipino if not oriental looks.

In a number of works, the artist garbs them in native Filipino attire. He also poses them in the act of playing musical instruments, not just the usual harp or lyre, but with other percussion and wind instruments.

Del Casal’s "Angel With a Violin" and "Angel with a Flute" are fine examples of the above-mentioned works. The former features a lass wearing a mestiza traje with a pattern typical of patadyongs woven in Iloilo. Draped over the skirt is a tapis fully embroidered in the manner of the then popular mantones de Manila. The later, on the other hand, is depicted as a man dressed in an indio costume that reminds one of Damian Domingo’s "Un Mestizo de Manila." The same is true in another work, "Angel With a Cello."

The sensation of these heavenly beings floating on air is suggested by pastel-colored wings with graceful flapping motiions and generous bands of cloth swirling around the subjects.

In keeping with the Eastern flavor of the works, Del Casal’s subjects are framed in gold-tinted ovals, arches, and even irregular shapes, his versions of the mandala.

Del Casal’s fascination for angels as subject matter is traced to Ang Pagdalaw ng Tatlong Hari, a painting that was part of a Christmas exhibit he mounted at the Ayala Museum some years ago. In the tryptich, Del Casal created a Nativity scene where the Holy Family is painted as Filipinos and the Magi as royals from the near and far east. Above the tableau were two little angels looking every inch like cute Filipino children.

His works became popular with collectors and angels have remained a staple in his painting repertoire.

Not all of Del Casal’s angels are depicted as flighty, happy creatures. In his sepia series, the artist shows angels that seem to be brooding, lonely, sinister and by a stretch of imagination, even bordering on the erotic.

This skill at capturing a subject’s emotional qualities serves the artist in portraiture, another area of expertise.

One of the more recent portraits of Del Casal that achieved national if not international prominence was the portrait of the Filipino martyr Pedro Calungsod. As per tradition, official representations of the Blessed are introduced to the faithful during beatification rites at the Vatican. And in the case of Calungsod, it was Del Casal’s portrait that was unveiled.

Del Casal’s portraits are much sought after that he is never wanting in commissions from art lovers and patrons among the country’s captains of business and industry.

At the moment, Del Casal has just finished a pastel potrait of St. Therese of Lisieux which he intends to give as a gift to a cleric friend. Also in the works is a portrait of Richard Michael Fernando who is being honored by the Jesuits for having died while in the service of the faith. Fernando was a 19-year-old lay missionary who was sent to Cambodia. While teaching children in a school in a remote village, someon lobbed a grenade into the classrom. Seeing one child was in danger, he picked him up and turned and shielded him and in the process died.

Del Casal’s skill in rendering anatomical proportions can be traced to his previous works as an assistant to production and costume designer Salvador Bernal. His work with theater costumes made him very familiar with the human anatomy. This is seen in the almost ideal proportions of his subjects.