The Amazing Street Art of Angono (Rizal)

There are a number of quaint little towns around Laguna Lake and each one has its own attractions. One such town is Angono, in Rizal and more than any geological feature or wild and crazy festivals it is probably best known for its artists. Angono is pretty close to Metro Manila -- probably just a 30 minute drive from the Ortigas Center-depending on traffic conditions of course.

Upon reaching Dona Aurora St., we caught sight of amazing concrete murals beautifully embellishing and adorning this street, all meant to honor Angono's artistic roots.

These extraordinary works of art are bas relief reproductions of local son and well-known Filipino muralist Carlos "Botong" Francisco's works cast in concrete, all done by Charlie Anorico, Gerry Bantang and Ebong Pimpino. Upon turning a different corner, we were greeted by another mural honoring Lucio San Pedro, another local son, whose most famous composition, the perennial Filipino lullaby "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan," is depicted on a wall as a music sheet, with cast metal notes jutting out of the concrete.

In fact, these murals as well as sculptures are a recurring theme throughout the town, with a preponderance of mermaids. The stone marker of Brgy. Poblaction is a sculpture of Ang Nuno (meaning "old man"), the origin of the towns name. There's even a reproduction of the Statue of Liberty, painted in gold. Angono is truly a town still very much in touch with its unique artistic heritage.

A lot of these are done in the walls of street (Poblacion itaas) also known as an Open Gallery street. These are done for free to promote tourism. Angono is well known for its two national artists Botong Francisco and Lucio San Pedro. If you grew up in this small town, for sure some of your common family friends are artists like the Miranda and Blanco family. Art galleries are very common in this town and you can never run out of art related things to see here.

A Peek Inside Blanco Family Museum

( Note that it's a "family museum". the whole Blanco family (7 children and now a few grand children as well) are exhibiting exceptional artistic talents. ) ( This river festival scene is Pitok Blanco's most famous masterpiece and graced the cover of an issue of Inquirer magazine. The actual painting is in the museum. )

The logo as well as the unofficial mascot of Blanco is this upturned dead fish. For starters Blanco was the son of a fisherman and in his early works fish were always found somewhere in his paintings. He has a fondness for the image because as a young boy, with a fat belly after a meal, he would take naps in his father's boat so he got teased for looking like the bloated dead fish. Sections of the museum are arranged by family member -- from the youngest to oldest child and the end of the gallery is devoted to the patriarch's works . In each child's section they showcase their earliest works (as early as 11 months old) up to their latest painting as adults. It is very interesting to see at what age the talent manifested in each child-- there seems to be a leap in talent and skill in their early teens. First up is the youngest of the brood -- Peter Paul

He got involved with art at the earliest age and they framed some of the paintings that he made when he was only 11 months old. He got involved the earliest probably because all his sibling were already into art by the time he was born.

( These paintings were made when he was 6 and 10 years old for an exhibit in China )

( This pigeon scene was made in his teens. ) The next is Gay. She was 14 when she made this painting

...and only 8 years old when she painted this.

A scene at the Banawe Rice Terraces

Detail of the basket of celery

( There was so much to take in that we kind of lost track of which child's works we were looking at. ) ( mother and child featuring aetas ) ( Saint George versus the dragon )

NeMiranda Art-house and Museum

( Nemiranda art-house/ family museum)

(Atelier gallery/ arthouse/ caf )

Angono gained the sobriquet as the Art Capital of the Philippines since a number of highly acclaimed artists and musicians including two nationl artists, maestro Lucio San Pedro and painter Carlos Botong Francisco hailed from this lakeshore town. A disciple of Botong is Nemesio Miranda Jr., who is popularly known in the art circle as NeMiranda. As we visited NeMis art-house we vowed at the creations of Nemi including the larger-than-life sirena that arches above the entrance of the art gallery. This glaring structural artwork is repeated in some parts of the home-studio as well as in the Nemiranda caf and Restaurant located along the towns main road. At the Nemirandas caf, good food is complemented by paintings of mythical creatures, nature goddesses, mother and child sketches all created by the velnerable artist along with artworks by his children and fellow artists from Rizal. While Nemi continues to capture his hometownss mystic charm in his artworks, the creative architecture of Nemirandas caf along Angonos national highway continues to tell passers by that they are now in the Art cApital of the Philippines. ( Note: Nemiranda also founded the Angono School for the Arts, and the Artcamp. )

( Note: Taking photos of some of his paintings are prohibited. ) But the following are of the ones that is well known and featured in different sites and form of media.