Lito Mayo
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Short description|Filipino artist}}
{{Infobox artist
| bgcolour =
| name = Lito Mayo
| image = Lito Mayo Portrait.tif
| imagesize =
| caption = Lito Mayo as an art student at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila (1973)
| birth_name = Manolito Tolentino Mayo
| birth_date = {{birth date|1954|12|17}}
| birth_place = Lipa City, Batangas
| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|05|04|1954|12|17}}
| death_place = Manila, Philippines
| nationality = Filipino
| spouse = Irma Hermano (Irma Cachela)
| children = Michelangelo Mayo
Leonardo Mayo
| field = Visual arts, Graphic art, Printmaking
| training = University of Santo Tomas College of Fine Arts and Architecture
| movement = Filipino Modernism
Surrealism
Protest Art
| works =
| patrons =
| influenced by =
| influenced =
| awards = First Prize: Graphic Arts award from the Art Association of the Philippines (1976)
First Runner-up: Grand Art Competition in Manila sponsored by the Art Association of the Philippines (1976)
}}
Manolito Tolentino Mayo (December 17, 1954 – May 4, 1983) was a Filipino graphic artist, printmaker, avantgarde poet, sculptor, and art professor. His prolific career was brief – it lasted only a decade, as he died at the age of 28. He was one of the active young artists who experimented, collaborated, and exhibited art works in the thriving hubs of modernist and contemporary galleries and art associations in the Ermita district of Manila. He was also credited by his peers and art writers as the "Original Punk" of Philippine arts.{{cite news |last1=Santos |first1=Soliman |title=Dalawang Dekada ng Musika ni Bobby Balingit |url=http://violentdispersal.blogspot.com/2008/01/dalawang-dekada-ng-musika-ni-bobby.html |access-date=August 26, 2022 |work=Pinoy Weekly |date=January 29, 2008 |format=reprint from Pinoy Weekly}}
Early life and education
Mayo was born on December 17, 1954, in Lipa City, Batangas, the eldest son and second child of banker and entrepreneur Sebastian Mayo and teacher and homemaker Belen Tolentino Mayo. He was born into one of the oldest and historic clans of Lipa City;{{cite web |title=Lipa's Old Gentry |url=https://lipatourism.wordpress.com/culture/lipasoldgentry/ |website=Lipa City Museum and Tourism Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415091825/https://lipatourism.wordpress.com/culture/lipasoldgentry/ |archive-date=April 15, 2019}} the Mayo clan of Lipa City has claimed and has documented their roots from Spanish, Chinese, and Irish-British ancestry.{{cite web |title=Finding Ferdinand: the Search for the Irish Ancestor of the Mayo Clan of Lipa |url=https://lifesomundane.net/2016/05/mayo.html |website=Life So Mundane in Batangas |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630055724/https://lifesomundane.net/2016/05/mayo.html |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |date=May 2016}} His father was an employee at the Philippine National Bank branch of Lipa City who had retired early to establish The Lipa Trading Company, a multifaceted family business that included insurance, financing, real estate, agriculture, tax preparation and a Suzuki motorcycle dealership and tricycle shop.
He attended De La Salle Lipa, one of the local high schools that was established by the Lasallian Brothers, and graduated in 1971.
He received a BFA from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1975.{{cite web |title=Artist Profiles |url=http://artverite.net/artists_profiles.htm |website=Art Verité |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811124748/http://artverite.net/artists_profiles.htm |archive-date=August 11, 2014}} While at UST he received several art awards at the university: 1st Honorable Mention, Sculpture Contest (1973); 3rd Prize, Graphic Arts (1973); 3rd Honorable Mention, Graphic Arts Competition (1973); and Honorable Mention, Annual On-The-Spot Painting Contest (1974).
His years at university coincided with the martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, and Mayo helped the resistance by joining the anti-CAFA (Committee on Anti-Filipino Activities) movement and using the printing presses he had access to, to help disseminate information. He was also a member of the philanthropy-oriented Tau Gamma Phi fraternity.{{cite web |author1=John B |title=Bro. Manolito 'Lito' Mayo a Future National Artist |url=http://www.thomasiantriskelion.org/2007/09/15/bro-manolito-lito-mayo-a-future-national-artist/ |website=Thomasian Triskelion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715015826/http://www.thomasiantriskelion.org/2007/09/15/bro-manolito-lito-mayo-a-future-national-artist/ |archive-date=July 15, 2014 |date=September 15, 2007}}
Art and career
Mayo's early work was heavily inspired by Cubism, wood print blocks, and sculptures. He established himself in graphic arts, with print plate etching as his major technique. Intaglio, xerographics, and silkscreen processes were also incorporated into his early works. Business Day writer Angel G. De Jesus wrote that Mayo was "a surrealistic expressionist with a satiric sense of humor".De Jesus, Angel G. "Vignettes" column; "Lito Mayo". 2014. Business Day, p. 12.
He was president of the Philippine Association of Printmakers from 1975 to 1976, and was a member of the board of directors of the Art Association of the Philippines in 1977.{{cite book |title=Museum Artists 1979 |date=1979 |publisher=Museum of Philippine Art}}
From 1981 to 1983 he taught Visual Arts and Design at the Philippine Women's University School of Fine Arts and Design.
Mayo's subjects and compositions usually embodied magical themes, amulets, animal people, and subconscious wanderings. In his work Pula Puti, he depicted a cockfight scene with two roosters with muscular human forms readying for a gladiatorial fight. His 1981 self portrait, a work in etching, has many incantations, mystical orations, and ancient figures adorning his shroud and countenance.
Mayo was regarded as the progenitor of punk culture and movement in the Philippines.{{cite web |url=https://www.wowbatangas.com/features/people/the-art-of-batangas-artists-then-and-now/ |title=The Art of Batangas Artists Then and Now |last=Cantos |first=JR |date=December 4, 2014 |website=WOWBatangas.com |access-date=May 24, 2020}} He infused art and punk as a subculture and influenced many young artists and musicians to explore the subversion and excitement of the genre.
Personal life
In 1971, at the age of 17, Mayo married Irma Hermano, the daughter of Philippine Air Force official Porfirio Hermano and Pacita Hermano who owned and operated D'Crowns Tailoring, which served the uniforms and flight suits need of the military student aviators and officers inside Fernando Air Base. The couple had two sons.
He died unexpectedly in 1983 at the age of 28.{{cite book |title=The Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook |date=1986 |publisher=The Fookien Times |page=338 |isbn=9789710503506 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n38KAQAAIAAJ&q=%22talented+printmaker+of+original+vision%22 |quote=1983 also saw the untimely death of Lito Mayo, talented printmaker of original vision.}}
Awards and recognition
1975
- 2nd Prize (Mixed Media Category): Print Competition in Manila sponsored by Bancom, Eurasia Arts, and the Philippine Association of Printmakers{{cite news |last1=De la Paz |first1=Christiane L. |title=Lito Mayo's Alternate Reality |url=https://artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/206/lito-mayo-s-alternate-reality |work=Arte De Las Filipinas |date=January–February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230115244/https://artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/206/lito-mayo-s-alternate-reality |archive-date=December 30, 2017}}
1976
- First Runner-up: Grand Art Competition in Manila sponsored by the Art Association of the Philippines
- First Prize: Graphic Arts award from the Art Association of the Philippines
1977
- Honorable Mention: Graphic Arts award from the Art Association of the Philippines
1978
- First Runner-up: Grand Art Competition in Manila sponsored by the Art Association of the Philippines
- First Runner-up: Graphic Arts award from the Art Association of the Philippines
In September 2018, when the well-respected printmaker and influential artist, Virgilio "Pandy" Aviado was awarded the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi, a prestigious "Filipino Cultural" award from Ateneo De Manila University, he dedicated the award to ten printmakers who were no longer living, included Mayo.{{cite web |url=http://www.ateneo.edu/text-response-virgilio-pandy-aviado-gawad-tanglaw-ng-lahi-recipient|title=Virgilio "Pandy" A. Aviado, Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi recipient |last=Aviado |first=Virgilio |date = September 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126083849/http://www.ateneo.edu/text-response-virgilio-pandy-aviado-gawad-tanglaw-ng-lahi-recipient |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |website=Ateneo De Manila University |quote =I would like to dedicate this award to the Printmakers who have gone into transition – Don Fernando Zobel, Dna.Rocio Zobel, Antonio Lorenzo, Manuel Rodriguez, Sr. and Jr., Rod Paras Perez, Mike Parsons, Santi Bose, Lito Mayo and Ojeng Jocano.}}
Museum collections and posthumous exhibitions
Tirada: 50 Years of Philippine Printmaking 1968-2018 (05/19/2018- 07/15/2018). Cultural Center of the Philippines. Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, 1003 Metro Manila{{cite web|url = https://culturalcenter.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TIRADA_CATALOG_Online-Reading.pdf |title = Tirada - 50 Years of Philippine Printmaking 1968-2018 |date = July 2018 |website = Cultural Center of the Philippines|publisher = Cultural Center of the Philippines|access-date = March 18, 2024}}
October 17–30, 2015: Hiraya Gallery. 35th Anniversary Exhibition, ArtistSpace, Ayala Museum{{cite web |url=http://www.hiraya.com/j_exhibition/35th-anniversary-exhibition/|title= Hiraya Gallery- 35th Anniversary Exhibition |date = October 2015|website=Hiraya Gallery |access-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180608225629/http://www.hiraya.com/j_exhibition/35th-anniversary-exhibition/ |archive-date=June 8, 2018}}
- Temptation, 6/10 (1974) – Etching – 32 cm x 27.5 cm (Gift from Emmanuel Torres)
- Untitled (1975) – Etching and aquatint – 20.5 cm x 20.5 cm (Gift from Mayo)
The Ateneo Art Gallery presents Print(Ed): The AAG Print Collection Revisited (July–September 2019).{{cite web |url=https://verafiles.org/articles/printed-unleashing-line|title=The Ateneo Art Gallery presents Print(Ed): The AAG Print Collection Revisited |date=July 2019 |website=verafiles.org |publisher=VERA Files |access-date=May 4, 2020 }} Selected works from Wilson L Sy Prints and Drawings Gallery collection, curated by Pandy Aviado
Gallery of works
File:Gemini (1982).jpg|Gemini, 1982
File:SelfPortraitA.jpg|Self-Portrait of Lito Mayo, 1981
File:Temptation (1976).jpg|Temptation, 1976
File:Mukha Ethnic (1976).jpg|Mukha Ethnic (Ethnic Face), 1976
File:Mukha (1976).jpg|Mukha, 1976
File:Maskara (1976).jpg|Maskara 2, 1976
File:Insekto (1976) 01.jpg|Insekto, 1976
References
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Category:People from Lipa, Batangas
Category:Artists from Batangas