Read part 1 first – https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/03/30/filipinos-in-america-part-1-early-exodus/
I met Venancio ‘Ven’ Igarta in New York City in the early 70s. This is his story, blurted out to me in an hour or so over dinner in Chinatown deep in the cold winter.
He arrived by ship at Stockton, California, from Vigan, Ilocos Sur at the age of 18, and worked as a farmhand harvesting asparagus during the Depression (circa 1928-30). Bored with life, he took a train to Philadelphia and worked as a janitor in a big hospital. At the hospital, a lady doctor was screaming at him.
eastwind journals
March 30,. 2023 (archives tr37-2)
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
Share this article – https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/03/30/filipinos-in-america-part-2-an-artist-in-new-york/
Self-portrait during his younger days. (1944). (archives IMG1386v2). Author’s note. All photos in this article came from his coffee-table book (title forgotten) given to me as a gift).
(Dialogue reconstructed.)
DOCTOR – Who has been touching my sketch pad?
VEN – Ma’m, I am sorry. I got carried away.
DOCTOR – No, I am not angry.
VEN – When I get homesick or lonely, I just draw and draw and draw.
DOCTOR – So you drew this seascape?
VEN – That’s our beach in my hometown Sinaet, Vigan, Ilocos Sur in the Philippines.
DOCTOR – Oh, a Filipino.
VEN – I’m sorry, ma’m.
DOCTOR – I told you I’m not angry. Did you take lessons in the Philippines?
VEN – No ma’m. I just drew on pieces of paper in California when I got depressed.
DOCTOR – This is excellent work. How would you like to go to an art school?
VEN. I got no money, ma’m.
DOCTOR – I will pay for your tuition. I want you to go to the best art school.
VEN – If you say so, ma’m. That would be nice, ma’m.
Ven’s destiny soared from a peasant boy in a remote Filipino village to a scholar in an elite art school, to become one of the most celebrated artists in New York City. He was the first Filipino artist ever to have an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1942, Fortune featured Ven together with American masters Maurice Sterne and Rockwell Kent. He rubbed elbows with other art icons such as Willem de Kooning, Ferdinand Leger, Man Ray, Ben Shalin, Rufino Tamayo, and Galo Ocampo. The deadliest critics pedestalled him.
“Igarta’s flowing patterns of color such as Phoebus Wings and Summer Solstice, are highly decorative and spontaneous impressions.” New York Times 1948.
“The interesting thing about Igarta is the fluent quality of his painting, his use of color of fiery orange red and black which is stirring.” New York Herald Tribune 1950.
Without sufficient income during lull periods, Ven kept on painting feverishly every day, until he was so poor, he ate apples and whisky for dinner. He was becoming an alcoholic, and he knew it.
One night, he asked himself, “Igarta, are you willing to die for art?” In deep depression one cold winter evening, totally drunk, he lit a bonfire of all his paintings in the last few years. Priceless paintings, that could support him for many years, went up in smoke. He said, “Never again will I paint.” Up to the time I met him decades later in New York, he never touched a brush for four decades. The essential Igarta died that winter evening.
Photo of the middle-aged Ven Igarta. (archives IMG 1378v2)
A new Igarta was born, working as the master mixer of colors for Color Aid, a prestigious art supply firm, then retired after 30 years, living off his stock market income. He lived in a depressing dingy studio on Chrystie St. near the Bowery ghettos, home of derelicts. He invited me to dinner and within an hour blurted out the story of his life.
Ven was the aging filthy-rich bachelor playboy, adored by women half his age. He would pamper them, and they would love him. But he was as frugal as an Ilocano could be. You could not tell he was well off, except the women, of course. One evening, I confronted him.
ME – Why don’t you go back to painting. You’re bored.
VEN – No more. After that bonfire, I vowed never to paint.
ME – No guts no glory, Ven.
VEN – Stop it, Bernie. I don’t want to paint anymore. That’s it. End of story.
ME – (Throwing my KO punch.) You’re dead. The essential Igarta is dead.
VEN – (Glaring at me.) Stop it.
ME – The artist in you is dead. What is life for if you can no longer paint?
VEN – Shut up, Bernie.
ME – Ernest Hemingway killed himself when he could no longer write.
VEN – (Screaming.) Are you telling me to commit suicide?
ME – (Screaming back.) But you’re already dead. No. I am telling you start painting again.
He gave me a pained look, and banged his fist on the table. I saw tears welling. He told me to ‘just go’. After a week, I visited him, hoping he would not send me away. When he opened the door, my hair stood on edge. He had this smile as wide as a Cadillac. I knew I had won. His dim flat now had bright fluorescents. He had a new drawing table.
And so Igarta the artist resurrected. From oil paintings of Ilocos beaches, the pendulum swung to abstract water colors, from realism to surrealism, from seascapes to cubism. I was glad I helped in the resurrection of the essential Igarta, the peasant artist, the flamboyant playboy, epitome of The Artist as Filipino.
Ven Igarta in his latter years.
Share this article – https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/03/30/filipinos-in-america-part-2-an-artist-in-new-york/
More Inspirational Articles – eastwindjournals.com.
FOR THOSE WHO NEED HEALING, spiritual or physical (depression, anxiety, loneliness, terminal cancer, covid, diabetes, etc.) – say an online healing prayer with one or both healers below. Terminal patients have been healed in cyberspace. All you need is to have faith –
1) Father Fernando Suarez – www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UP3LHBgtIc.
2) Sr. Raquel Reodica, RVM – www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZcwNimBSg
Download free e-book ‘Healing Stories of Sr. Raquel’ at eastwindjournals.com/2021/08/13/healing-stories-of-sr-raquel-e-book-free-download/).
Author’s book. At age 26, the author (eastwind) drifted through Europe, hitchhiking 25,000 kilometers for three straight years. He wrote a book on his adventures, Wings and Wanderlust. He learned deep insights that radically changed his view of life, which he wants to share with readers looking for themselves or wanting to catch the wind. More about the book = https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/02/25/more-about-the-book-wings-and-wanderlust/
Author’s Credentials. Blogger – ex-Columnist (Inquirer) – Healing Ministry – ex-Professor (Ateneo University) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.
amdg
Eastwind Journals 