_artists

 

Self-taught painter Mauro Malang Santos was born on 1928 in Sta. Cruz, Manila. A recipient of the 1994 Cultural Center of the Philippines Gawad for the Visual Arts, he belongs to the second generation of modernists. He attended the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California, for training in art design in 1965.

Malang has a staggering resumé of group and solo shows and continues to exhibit a number of works. Since the 1960s, he has joined exhibitions abroad, such as those in London, Munich, Rome, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He has also participated in several art festivals including those held in Bali, Indonesia in 1987 and Bahrain in 1981.

In 1997, Malang's retrospective exhibition was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Among his many awards are the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines and First Prize for Watercolor at the Art Association of the Philippines, both presented to him in 1963. He began his career in art as a designer for the national paper, Manila Chronicle, and its supplement, This Week Magazine. Despite an opportunity to study at the University of the Philippines' School of Fine Arts, the artist attended it only for one term, opting to begin work for the paper as soon as he was offered the job. By 1965, he retired from the paper to become a full-time painter.

Malang's first solo exhibition was held at the Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) in Manila. This was followed five years later at the Luz Gallery in Manila. Both are among the earliest art galleries in Manila and also supported the rise of the modern art movement in the Philippines. Hernando R. Ocampo, who was another self-taught painter and member of the avant-garde Neo-Realist group that met frequently at the PAG, inspired him. Ocampo was Malang's former chief at the magazine who encouraged him to paint during those long hours of the press's graveyard shift. As a result, the young artist realized his potential and has gone on to rise as one of the most important modern painters in the country.