Artist/ Artista

BenCab, National Artist, is the sole occupant of the terrain between “artist” and “artista” (movie star): a visual artist who is familiar to the general Filipino public. This means that unlike most artists who can do their work in quiet anonymity, he gets swarmed by fans, requested to pose for group photos that will appear on people’s Facebook pages, and asked to sign bits of paper. Those autographs will be kept, maybe framed — everyone knows that his signature is valuable.

Even if they may not know what his work looks like, he says.

There is a note of distress in his laughter.

Not long ago BenCab was in a restaurant with friends, and while waiting for his order he started making sketches of the other diners.

A waiter saw him and asked for a sketch; before long the diners were clamoring for their own drawings. Sketching in restaurants is not usually a dangerous activity.

The artist is so widely known by the handle “BenCab” that his full name is often listed erroneously — he once received a prize for “Benjamin Cabrera.” For the record the name is Benedicto Cabrera. He started using “BenCab” to distinguish himself from the other artists named Cabrera, including Salvador (his older brother), Gene, and Benjie, whose work is sometimes attributed to him. He cannot paint enough to meet the demand for BenCab works. Collectors ask him to reserve his future paintings for them; he refuses. “Are they looking at the art?” he wonders aloud, “or at the price tag?”

Last year he formally launched a project that takes even more time away from his painting: the BenCab Museum in Baguio. Built on a promontory in Asin, the building designed by architect Raymund

Sarmiento houses BenCab’s vast collection of indigenous Cordillera arts and crafts: granary gods (bulol), lime containers, native tools and weapons, and other artifacts. Also on display are the artist’s collection of his own works, and those of acknowledged Filipino masters and rising artists.

Actively competing with the collections is the view: the garden, the farm with its watercress, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and other crops, the duck pond and aviary with peacocks, white mayas, and other birds, the winding eco trail, forests, mountains, and in the distance, the South China Sea. The BenCab Museum is the highlight of the SM Malls’ My City, My SM project promoting tourism in Baguio.

“I love objects,” Ben says in typically laconic fashion. He started collecting the pieces in the museum four decades ago in London; his first bulol were acquired in 1968. These wooden granary gods guard the fields and ensure abundant harvest; there are many reports of bulol coming to life to take walks or kill rats. In the museum’s Erotica gallery, there are bulol engaged in more… creative activities.

Some bulol have names, signifying their importance. At the turn of the last century missionaries burned them as pagan deities, and with the disappearance of the mumbaki (shaman), bulol have become harder to find. A few bulol are still being made, for Ifugao rituals; there are also fakes, with good patina and blood encrustation to approximate the real things.

The idea of a building that would contain all these bulol, artifacts, and paintings came to BenCab after he visited an artists’ collective in Bandung, Java. “It’s my legacy,” he says. “Also, the stuff doesn’t fit in my house anymore.” His approach to collecting has always been aesthetic rather than anthropological — the museum displays could use more labels and historical background. A guided tour is in the works; for now everyone on the staff helps take guests around, including the electrician.

Since the BenCab Museum opened exactly one year ago there’s been a steady stream of visitors, mostly students. Ben observes that many of them are engrossed in taking photos of themselves in front of the displays. “They don’t ask questions, they just take pictures with their cellphones,” he says. “I hope they’re really looking. Sometimes I want to ask them, ‘What do you see?’”

I know exactly what would happen if he did. They would ask to have their photos taken with him. Our lunch at the museum’s excellent Café Sabel was constantly interrupted by visitors requesting photo ops.

The best time to catch the artist in his museum is this month: he’s organizing a group show to mark the museum’s first anniversary. The show opens on Feb. 27; come to Baguio and have a look. An exhibition of his new works is scheduled for April. In June he leaves for another residency at the Tyler Institute in Singapore, where he will produce prints for a one-man show. BenCab is the first artist to have been invited by the print institute twice.

The artist is considerably chattier when he’s not talking about himself but giving a tour of the farm and garden. It’s a longish walk, and if you intend to visit, wear comfortable shoes. If you have vertigo, don’t look down. BenCab is particularly proud of the anthuriums in the greenhouse, and the strawberries. I had to restrain myself from asking him to sign them.

* * *

The BenCab Museum is on Km 6, Asin Road, a 15-minute drive from the Baguio City center. You can take a jeepney ride to Asin from the terminal near the Baguio public market. A shuttle service from SM City Baguio to the museum is in the planning stage. Admission is P100, with discounts for students and senior citizens. Special rates are available for student groups. For more information visit their website, www.bencabmuseum.org, e-mail bencabartfoundation@gmail.com, or call (+63 74) 442 7165.