Benedicto Cabrera

            Benedicto Cabrera was born on April 10, 1942, in Malabon, Philippines, and studied at the University of the Phillippines. In 1963, he won first prize for his oil painting of a talipapa, or market, in a student competition, and was hired soon after by the national paper as its Sunday illustrator. Cabrera’s first exhibition of oil and acrylic paintings was held at the Indigo Gallery in Mabini in 1965, years have passed and his career become successful,  he, therefore, built a museum where he can showcase his permanent works as well as features other artworks of other great artists.

            The BenCab Museum is named after the gallery’s main artist, painter, and printmaker Benedicto Cabrera. The museum houses the permanent collection of Philippine National Artist Benedicto Cabrera (aka BenCab) within the three-level beautifully laid-out building and It also features some of the Filipino masters and rising contemporary artists.  He is a National Artist who has shared his works in his museum so we can all marvel at them and explore the different masterpieces he made. He is also considered as the prominent Filipino painter in his generation. His works are often depicts woman and occasionally men wrapped in swirling, bundled fabrics and capes. Through the years, lovers of the arts have been captivated by his works. Some of Cabrera’s famous artworks are Crisis in Humanity, it depicts the extrajudicial killing in the Philippines.  Next is the Sabel, it is arguably the most identifiable work of Bencab. Sabel was the name of a homeless vagrant who wandered the streets of Bambang where the artist used to stay. Last in the The Portrait of Caroline, it is Bencab’s homage to his wife, British journalist, Caroline Kennedy.

            BenCab’s style is termed Figurative Art which describes any form of modern art that embodies strong elements related to the real world and particularly to the human figure. In fact the way he paints are infused with vigorous rhythmic brush strokes, flowing lines, and spirited body movements.