Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9) — Acclaimed Filipino artist Mauro “Malang” Santos died on June 10 at 89 years old.
Malang married Mary San Pedro and together, they had four children, two of whom are also artists: Steve Santos and Soler Santos.
Netizens expressed their condolences on Soler’s Instagram account.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Gallery expressed its condolences in a June 10 Facebook post.
Newspaper artist roots
Born in Santa Cruz, Manila on Jan. 20, 1928, Santos took art lessons when he was 10 years old under classical-realist painter Teodoro Buenaventura.
He enrolled at the University of the Philippines’ School (now College) of Fine Arts in 1946, leaving after one semester to join the Manila Chronicle’s art department, where he trained under cartoonist Liborio “Gat” Gatbonton.
During his apprenticeship at the Chronicle, he created an original comic strip: Kosme, the Cop, Retired.
In 1955, Malang helped open Bughouse, a gallery that focused on cartoons. It showcased his own works and those of contemporaries like Larry Alcala, Hugo Yonzon and his mentor Gatbonton.
Malang reached further recognition when in 1957, his cartoons were included in the esteemed Twelve Artists selection by Lyd Arguilla of the Philippine Art Gallery.
Numerous accolades
In 1958, Malang received the Award for Editorial Design by the Art Directors Guild of the Philippines. That same year, he was commissioned by the FGU-Insular Life Building to create the Barrio Fiesta, an oil-on-canvas mural that is known as one of his best works.
Arguilla’s Philippine Art Gallery was also the first to offer Malang a solo exhibition in 1962. The show was comprised entirely of small pen-and-ink cartoons on simple white backgrounds.
In 1963, Malang was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men. The next year, he was named Artist of the Year by the Society of Philippine Illustrators and Cartoonists.
In 1965, Malang worked together with renowned Filipino artists like cubist illustrator Vicente Manansala to open Gallery Seven, the first art gallery in Makati.
Together with a few major contemporaries and friends, Malang set up “Art for the Masses” in 1966, which introduced affordable art for the first time through prints.
In 1972, Malang went to Los Angeles, California to study at the Otis Art Institute (now the Otis College of Art and Design) under a special grant.
Manila honored Malang in 1981 by bestowing on him the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan in 1981.
A decade later, Malang held a landmark exhibition composed of 28 original works that marked a drastic shift in his career as it delved into abstract and cubist art, according to art dealer Tobin Reese Fine Art.
