Allan Cosio, Filipino postwar and contemporary artist, dies at 79

Filipino postwar and contemporary painter, sculptor, and production designer Allan Cosio has passed away.

He was 79.

According to his daughter, Dana Cosio-Mercado, the multi-awarded artist died April 29, 2021, in Pampanga after battling COVID-19.

Mercado shared a tribute to her father on social media.

“We comforted ourselves that he was exactly where he wanted to be, in his home province. That he was not attended to with pomp and circumstance. That there was a beautiful sky that embraced us all, physically present and not. And that he was ready when he was,” Dana wrote.

“Things conspire to be just as they need to be. From now on, Papa will make sure of that for us because there is still so much of him left all around us,” she added.

Allan Cosio was born on June 20, 1941.

His “Art for Peace” trilogy won a major prize at an international art competition in Baghdad.

Cosio’s works have been exhibited in the US, Europe, and other Asian countries. He has also received several prestigious awards and recognition throughout his career, including a City of Manila Award for Painting and Sculpture, and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government.

Many members of the Philippine art community paid tribute to Cosio on social media.

Alliance Française de Manille also bid farewell to Cosio on Facebook, thanking him for his “immeasurable” contributions to the development of France-Philippines cultural relations. – Margaret Claire Layug/RC, GMA News