“Marcos Flees” 1986, mixed media, Santiago Bose
“Student with Molotov cocktail” 1971, acrylic on wood, Santiago Bose
“Marcos Flees While Buddha Sleeps” 1986, mixed media, Santiago Bose
My dad came of age during the Marcos regime. For his entire adult life—he died at 52, in 2002--Ferdinand Marcos and Martial Law was the invisible hand that directed my dad’s politics, his art, his poetics, his community activism. As a student at the University of the Philippines during the First Quarter Storm, he and his friends tore up their t-shirts to block tear gas that military soldiers threw into their dorms. His friends and acquaintances tortured, imprisoned, or killed by the Marcos regime. When my dad left for the United States in 1980, in the midst of martial law, the only way for Filipino artists to express their resistance to the Marcos regime was through allegory and metaphor. Once in New York, my dad was finally able to use his art to protest Martial Law. When Marcos fled the Philippines in 1986 he was still living in New York, and yet, his work was subsumed by Martial Law. Intoxicated by the idea of a free Philippines, he came home a few months later and created paintings full of images he saw on TV from a country he exiled himself in.
Like my father, my entire life as a Filipino has existed under the specter of the Marcoses and Martial Law. When my dad died 20 years ago, I don’t believe he would’ve ever imagined that BBM would be president of the Philippines today. Today, when I see BBM performing official duties as president of the Philippines—ringing the bell of the NY Stock Exchange or exchanging pleasantries with world leaders—instead of wallowing in jail for his family’s crimes against the Filipino people, I dissociate because the images are so traumatic. What’s real are my dad’s paintings—images of our collective resistance, and a constant reminder to never forget.
—Lilledeshan Bose
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lilledeshan Bose was born and raised the Philippines. She has written for newspapers, alt weeklies, and magazines, with works published and translated around the world. In 2002, she published the YA novel “Una and Miguel: A Long Shot at Love.” She lives in Southern California.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Santiago Bose (July 25, 1949 – December 3, 2002, Baguio City, Philippines) was a mixed-media artist from the Philippines. Bose co-founded the Baguio Arts Guild, and was also an educator, community organizer and art theorist.
Bose often used indigenous media in his work, ranging from bamboo and volcanic ash, to cast-offs and debris (found objects, bottles, “trash”). His assemblages communicated a strong sense of folk consciousness and religiosity, and the strength of traditional cultures in a culture inundated with foreign cultural influences.
Bose worked toward raising awareness of cultural concerns in the Philippines. After studying at the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines between 1967 and 1972, Bose continued his studies in the United States, at the West 17th Print Workshop in New York.
He returned to Baguio in 1986 and began his explorations into the effects of colonialism on the Philippine national identity. In particular, Bose focused on the resilience of indigenous cultures, like that of his home region of the Cordilleras.
Bose was the founding president of the Baguio Arts Guild in 1987. He became president again in 1992. The Guild is an active cultural association in the northern Cordillera region, emphasizing regional tribal traditions and the importance of using indigenous materials. Bose played a formative role in establishing the Baguio International Arts Festival.
Through his work, Bose addressed difficult social and political concerns in the Philippines. His subject(s) were approached with deep criticality and gravity, although never without a sense of humor and wit, however irreverent.
Bose said, “…The artist cannot but be affected by his society. It is hard to ignore the pressing needs of the nation while making art that serves the nation’s elite… We struggled to change society, which is difficult and dangerous, and we also sought to preserve communal aspects of life. I too am haunted by visions of hardship, poverty, disenfranchisement of the ‘primitive’ tribes, but between outbursts of violence and exploitation are also tenderness, selflessness and a sense of community. These will always remain unspoken and unrecognized unless we make art or music that will help to transform society. The artist takes a stand through the practice of creating art. The artist articulates the Filipino subconscious so that we may be able to show a true picture of ourselves and our world.”
Bose was granted the Thirteen Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1976. He has exhibited in major international events such as the Third Asian Art Show in Fukuoka, Japan and the Havana Biennial held in Cuba, both in 1989. In 1993, he was invited to the First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art held at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia. In 2000 Bose’s work was included in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco’s exhibition, At Home & Abroad, 20 Contemporary Filipino Artists. In June 2002, he was presented the “Gawad ng Maynila: Patnubay ng Sining at Makabagong Pamamaraan” (Cultural Award for New Media presented to outstanding Filipino Artist) by the City of Manila. In 2006, he was posthumously shortlisted for the National Artist award.
As a widely sought-after artist for public commissions and artist residencies, Bose’s practice included extensive international travel and included several prominent grants and fellowships.
Bose’s work was marked by a conscious avoidance of a single recognizable style by varied foreign and local influences, and by an experimental bent.
-Profile from the Silverlens Gallery website