Quietly tucked in the walkway of my building’s parking lot, the lineup of Komiks front pages from decades ago caught our attention.
As a visual person, I enjoy reading through comic strips. When I was a child I would consistently check out Calvin and Hobbes from my elders’ daily newspaper. I also had a stack of Archie comics when I was a teenager. These days when I browse books at Fully Booked to kill time, I would head out to the comics section to continue where I left off on Nick Seluk’s Body Language series. This is after I’ve completed reading through (and having a lot of chuckles) Kris Wilson’s Cyanide and Happiness volumes.
Back to the comics cover pages currently displayed. These were works of Francisco V. Coching (1919-1998), Philippines’ National Artist for Visual Arts, posthumously awarded on 2014. He was known as King of Komiks. Most of his published works had been used in films – probably something my grandparents and their generation have seen, as some of them sound familiar even to this day (like Pedro Penduko – which my aunt sometimes fondly calls Pedro our sweet senior bulldog).
As a budding artist, I have high respect for comicbook illustrators. Their art brings me to places, scenes, worlds in my imagination.
So without further ado, let me share with you snippets of Francisco V Coching’s art.
You can find the Komiks exhibit at Net Park Building, 5th Avenue Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines.
Living Free and Making a Difference 