PORTRAITS: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Imee Marcos (oil pastel on paper, 2012), Josephine Murphy Cojuanco (oil on canvass, 2012), Hetty Que (oil on canvass, 2012), and Carmen Tiglao (oil on canvass, 2012) PAINTING NINJA: (RIGHT) Portrait artist Rafael del Casal poses in front of his work during a recent exhibit. Of his work, he says, “If I get the eyes right, everything falls into place.”
AN ARTIST WITH SOUL Action indeed speaks louder than words. And in the case of artist Rafael del Casal, not a single word is needed to promote his work. ISABEL L. TEMPLO writes. Photographs by IAN SANTOS.
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t’s been said that a good portrait reveals as much about the artist and his milieu as it does about the subject. One has only to see Rafael del Casal’s portraits to know that he comes from refinement and gentility. Each brushstroke shows care and discipline in the way he paints the curve of the neck. Light falling on the skin. The delicate detail of a dress. Rafael’s career in portraits has spanned more than 30 years, beginning at the age of 11 or 12. “It just came naturally to me,” he says. “I was lucky.” Aside from pure talent, he had a supportive grandmother and mentors who pushed him. An apprenticeship with National Artist for Theater Salvador Bernal made Rafael more versatile. “I learned about Philippine costumes and history,” he says. “That’s a blessing for me; I can use that in the work that I do.” And he has. He has done period portraits with only old, worn photos—or faded photocopies—to work from. Perhaps his most impressive portrait so far is that of Pedro Calungsod, the 17thcentury Cebuano martyr who will be canonized on October 21 by the Vatican. With nothing but some historical writings to guide him, Rafael came up with a portrait for the Loyola School of Theology.
It was later selected as the official portrait, and he was asked to do another one for the beatification in 2001. Rafael’s portraits adorn the walls of the Vatican Museum in Rome, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the U.S. Embassy in Manila, educational institutions, and homes of the rich and famous. His work may be in such high-profile places, but you won’t catch him bragging or hogging the spotlight. “Most of my clients want discretion,” Rafael says. “So I’m like a painting ninja. My work is all over but people don’t know it,” he adds. And when your list of clients reads like the “who’s who” of Philippine high society, that is important. Rafael credits what he calls his “educated instinct” for his success as a portrait artist. The first thing he does when commissioned for a portrait is to really study the subject. He takes care not to “prettify” her or him. “You always have to have the character there when you do a portrait. It cannot be a portrait without character—or as some people have said, without soul,” he emphasizes. “It has to be always the soul—the eyes. If I get the eyes right, everything falls into place. That’s the first thing.” n
FAMOUS FACE: The most recognizable portrait in the world is that of 16th-century Italian Lisa Gherardini, better known as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. 78 I Mabuhay Magazine I September 2012