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The Search, Larong Pambata Series
Section V · Major Works

Selected Masterpieces

"Each painting is a moment remembered, a truth revealed, a story preserved." Thirteen works, selected from a documented catalogue exceeding eighty paintings spanning 1988 to the present.
Taguan, 1991
1991 · Finalist, Shell Competition
Taguan
Oil on Canvas · 36″×24″ · Collection: Shell Philippines
One of the earliest masterworks of Composed Photorealism — two boys concealed among banana leaves, one signaling for quiet. The painting that gave the Larong Pambata idiom its name, and the first of three related Shell-competition canvases shown below.

A note on naming: this dossier's earlier sections describe a painting titled Taguan as the Grand Prize winner of the 1992 Shell National Students Art Competition. The artist's own catalogue, however, separately lists Hanap (below) as "1st Place, Shell NSAC" in the same year, while dating Taguan itself to 1991 as a Finalist. Both works are presented here with the documentary captions the artist's own catalogue gives them, rather than silently resolving the discrepancy.

The Search — 46x90 inches — Larong Pambata Series
The Search · Oil on Canvas · 46″ × 90″ · Larong Pambata Series
Larong Pambata Series

The Search

Unveiled at the artist's eighth solo exhibition, the subject is sabong gagamba — spider-fighting, a specific and now largely vanished children's pastime. At 46 × 90 inches, it is one of the most ambitious canvases in the series dedicated to preserving traditional Filipino childhood games before they disappear entirely.

The Larong Pambata Canon

Naming a Practice

Ilap, 1994
1994 · Oil on Canvas · 72″×48″
Ilap
A child concealed behind a banana leaf, lit so the leaf's translucency becomes the visual argument. The artist's catalogue records the image has "graced several newspapers, books, and calendars."
Tuklas, 1997
1997 · Oil on Canvas · 60″×48″ · Juror's Choice, AAP
Tuklas
A boy capturing a dragonfly in dense foliage. Acquired by Cesar Sarino, then President of GSIS, and given as a gift to President Fidel V. Ramos — its image used on the cover of a book published under President Ramos's name.
Tago, 1992
1992 · Oil on Canvas · 36″×36″ · Finalist, Shell Competition
Tago
Collection of the Araneta family. A child's striped hair catches the single shaft of light breaking through banana leaves — the second of the three related hide-and-seek canvases from the artist's competition years.
Hanap, 1992
1992 · Oil on Canvas · 36″×36″ · 1st Place, Shell NSAC
Hanap
Collection of Shell Philippines. Captioned in the artist's own catalogue as the Shell NSAC 1st Place winner for 1992 — the specific claim behind the naming discrepancy flagged above.
Ligaw, 1993
1993 · Oil on Canvas · 48″×36″ · Honourable Mention, Metrobank Competition
Ligaw
Artist's Collection. The last of the documented formative-period distinctions — closing a run of three consecutive years of national competition recognition for the hide-and-seek idiom, achieved before the artist turned twenty-five.
Sari-Sari Store, 2000
2000 · Oil on Canvas · ~36″×36″
Sari-Sari Store
No child, no leaf, no forest light. The neighbourhood sari-sari store, rendered with the same photorealist discipline applied elsewhere to foliage and skin — the method turned toward labour and the informal economy.

These thirteen works are drawn from a documented catalogue exceeding eighty paintings. The complete Body of Works — reproduced page by page, 79 pages in full — is available in the Archive.

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