MANILA, Philippines - Filipino gatherings are always exceptional not only because of their festive spirit, but also because their very concept of family extends to neighbors and acquaintances.

It is not surprising that gatherings or our sense of togetherness would be an important subject not only for sociologists and psychologists but for artists as well. Reynold de la Cruz is one such artist.

Self-taught, De la Cruz won the Philip Morris Philippines Arts Awards 10 years ago, which paved the way for his exhibits in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the USA. He was recently commissioned to paint the mural of Muntinlupa’s history.
His current exhibit is “Junto: Sama-Sama,” the title referring to people doing things together and enjoying each other’s company. It runs at Art Verite (call 9151982) in Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Space and togetherness

In “Sama-sama” (Together), he depicts an ordinary rickshaw driver plying his route with passengers cramped inside the trailer. The rickshaw is called a pedicab in the Philippines because it is powered by a driver as one would a bicycle.

The depiction is, indeed, interesting in terms of how the artist views and portrays Filipinos’ sense of space even in this most unlikely setting. Michael Tan last week in Sunday Inquirer Magazine wrote about Filipinos’ horror vacui or their penchant to fill empty spaces with anything they have such as trinkets or decorative materials.
What De la Cruz is saying about horror vacua is quite different. It is not just a penchant but rather a reaction to something that is basically economic. In times of crisis, people do what they can do with the limited space they have and such an attitude invokes communal support. Filipinos tend to reinvent, innovate, recreate, adapt and adopt especially in trying times, sometimes in problematic terms, such as colonialism.

In De la Cruz’s “Sama-sama” we are reminded of this ability, that we are basically survivors, that we can still rely on a little support and understanding from fellow Filipinos.

In “Patong-patong” (Piling Up), De la Cruz embarks on the similar theme of familial support, and yet here we see how such relations are structured. Gone are the days when we address older siblings and differentiate them as kuya or diko, ate or ditse. De la Cruz here is probably alluding to that time when even children’s games such as climbing a tree or hopscotch were similarly structured in terms of affinity and familial relations.

De la Cruz can be considered romantic, as this painting becomes a sort of critique of our current situation, when we see more and more families today split up and the size of a family is reduced to reckon with the economic crisis.

Perhaps there is an attempt not just to reminisce the bygone days but rather to think of the current situation as a challenge to us all, that we may invoke once again that communal spirit we have always had to better our lives.