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A visual feast at the BenCab museum


Thanks to my best friend and her family's unwavering hospitality, Baguio is probably my most frequent out-of-town destination. Having gone up at least once a year since 1993, my Baguio trips have gotten to a point where all we really do is hang out in their house, roasting marshmallows and drinking beer or whatever alcohol is handy. "All we do here is drink," my best friend often says, by this time unnecessarily. I've been their houseguest often enough to attest to this fact. My most recent trip to Baguio was with a seven year-old, so drinking couldn't possibly be our main agenda. We decided to visit Burnham Park, which I last went to when the swings were new and freshly painted. We arrived to a depressing scene of rusty swings and slides that ended in pools of muddy water. The disappointed seven year-old wasn't keen on biking, nor boating, so at my friend's suggestion, we thought it best to head out of the city. Thanks to the very helpful markers along the road to Asin, we found the BenCab Museum without any trouble. The sun was out when we set off on the fifteen-minute drive, but when we arrived, the museum was veiled in fog. The spacious four-floor building was the perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon, with its increasingly large galleries that house one of the best collections you can view today.

The deceptively small entrance to the four-storey Bencab museum.
A project of the BenCab Art Foundation, a non-stock organization that supports activities related to the arts and environment, the museum is on Km. 6 along Asin Road, around 15 minutes from Baguio City center. At the Indigo Gallery, Re:View 2010 runs until January 15. The group exhibit features an assortment of styles and subjects of 38 artists, some emerging and some established.
White Templates by Arturo Luz, one of the Filipino masters featured in the Maestro Gallery.
Participating artists include Leonardo Aguinaldo, Virgilio Aviado, Augusto Albor, Max Balatbat, Welbart Bartolome, BenCab, Elmer Borlongan, Froilan Calayag, Joey Cobcobo, Charlie Co, Marina Cruz, Melvin Culaba, Don Dalmacio, Antipas Delotavo, Abigail Dionisio, Alfredo Esquillo, Emmanuel R. Garibay, Kawayan de Guia, Raul Isidro, Mark Justiniani, Winner Jumalon, Lao-lianben, Arturo Luz, Joy Mallari, Jordan Mang-Osan, Justin Nuyda, Jonathan Olazo, Camille de la Rosa, John Frank Sabado, Popo San Pascual, Aman Santos, Soler Santos, stevesantos, Dexter Sy, Rodel Tapaya, Roger “Rishab" Tibon, Tatong Torres, and Phyllis Zaballero. Most of the works on display are for sale. The Cordillera Gallery features the National Artist's collection of tribal artifacts and indigenous crafts, including over a hundred hand-carved bulols. The bulols, or rice granary gods, are sculptures from the Ifugao communities of the Cordillera highlands. The male and female genitalia are emphasized to represent fertility, as the bulols are venerated to ensure abundant harvest as well as safety from natural calamities.
This Bulol installation features some of over 100 bulol sculptures in the museum.
The Bencab Gallery features the artist's own work, including some of his famous Sabel paintings inspired by a real-life scavenger. The room leads to a smaller room - The Maestro Gallery, which houses Bencab's collection of select works from Filipino distinguished artists, including Aguinaldo, Chabet, Edades, Joya, Legaspi, Luz, Magsaysay-Ho, Sanso, Zobel. The Philippine Contemporary Art Galleries house an incredibly large collection of pieces by Froilan Calayag, James Gabito, Romeo Rosete, among many others.
Julie Lluch's Lily for Georgia is featured in the Erotica Gallery.
A sign by the door of the Erotica Gallery warns that the gallery contains works with imagery that may be offensive to minors and to certain individuals. Inside are paintings and sculptures by Julie Lluch, Macario Vitalis, Antonio Garcia Llamas, Jay Ticar, and Bencab himself. There is a collection of 18th-19th century prints of Philippine views in the Print Gallery and Bencab's glaze on mariwasa tiles piece 32 Variations of Sabel at Patio Salvador, the museum's outdoor terrace. Ironically, the most beautiful artistic thing about BenCab Museum isn't inside the building, but outside. While guests can spend hours gazing at the pieces on display, what really mesmerizes is the view from the balcony. The museum doors lead out to minimally manicured garden terraces, which tumble toward the mountain ridge. To one side is a large aviary, and further beyond is a creek. At the center of everything, a pagoda floats over a pond. Even with the heavy fog, the view was almost impossible to pull away from. Had it not been for the seductive smell of freshly cooked food wafting up from Cafe Sabel, we might have just stayed there staring at the lush landscape until the museum closed at 6pm. Eating was not on our itinerary, since we arrived right after lunchtime. But the colorful menu and the delicious smells were impossible to resist. We ended up sharing a mushroom omelette, a longsilog meal, a chicken sandwich, french fries, and suman. The mushroom omelette was cheesy, but not soggy. The longsilog was reportedly very good - not too salty, and the longanisa well-stuffed with meat. The french fries were excellent - thick wedges with the skin unpeeled, and not too oily, either. My friend tried her best to enjoy her chicken sandwich, despite the store-bought bread, and the unlabeled painting on the wall of a man holding a live chicken.
Longsilog is served way past breakfast at Cafe Sabel.
Cafe Sabel is at the lowest level of the Bencab museum. As visitors descend from gallery to gallery, they come closer to the conveniently located cafe, which serves food quickly, for the very hungry. After feasting their eyes on all the art, visitors can satisfy their appetites with organic food, freshly brewed coffee, lemongrass iced tea or wine, which is sold by the bottle. We munched our merienda happily, though feeling a bit sorry for the pieces on the cafe's walls, which looked somewhat sad compared to the works in the galleries above. We were surprised when we realized we had spent three hours in the museum, but then, we realized we shouldn't be surprised. Cliches are true, after all, and time flies when you're enjoying yourself.
Bencab museum offers a visual feast both inside and outside.
The museum is open daily except Mondays, Christmas Day & New Year’s Day from 9:00am to 6:00pm (last entry at 5:30pm). - GMANews.TV
ADMISSION INFORMATION
General: PHP 100.00 Students and senior citizens with valid ID: PHP 80.00 Special rates for student groups with prior arrangement. For museum rules and other information, visit http://bencabmuseum.org/

Tags: bagiuo, bencab
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