The Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation is a beneficiary of part of the proceeds from an art exhibit titled “Ani at Huli (Harvest and Catch)” by visual artist Paul Sena. This will be held from July 10 to August 10, 2024 at the Chef Jessie Rockwell Club. The artist will be selling around 40 paintings developing this very timely theme of food and food gathering.

Come for cocktails on opening day July 10, 2024, Wednesday, 3pm. If you have friends who collect art, please also encourage them to come and consider buying at the exhibit. We are so thankful for the generosity and consideration of the artist. Through this project, we hope to raise additional funds for our foundation’s operations.

For Paul Sena, art is a form of service to his countrymen. He never forgets for whom his art must be and would continue to feature the lives of the toiling sectors of society in his solo exhibits throughout the years.

You can browse the paintings here in this digital gallery. For those who would wish to RSVP to the opening event or inquire about the paintings you can call Lorraine at +639628443890.

Paul Sena: Artista ng Bayan

There is more to Paul Sena than meets the eye.

Born in 1950 in Bgy. Trozo, Tondo, Manila, he was always being introduced as the self-taught painter who came from humble beginnings whose parents migrated to Manila in search for a better life. His father is a fisherman from Marinduque and his mother is a farmer from La Union who turned to washing and ironing clothes to make ends meet.

Growing up in a poor family of seven children led Paul to sell newspapers and komiks (comics) for baon (school money) at a very young age – and copying illustrations from his merchandise was how he discovered his natural flair for drawing. In his school years, he earned numerous accolades, which included the prestigious nationwide art competitions sponsored by Shell and Metrobank – and these early achievements laid the foundation for a productive artistic practice, much later in life.

Yet, just like his semi-abstract paintings, one has to take a thorough second look at Paul Sena to unveil the man behind the maven – because his contemporaries would not call him ‘Artista ng Bayan’ for nothing.

At 20 years old, out of school, and with his brood hardly subsisting, Paul accepted a brief stint painting walls at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) where his mother was previously confined. Eventually, however, his obvious credentials landed him a more stable job as an illustrator for the Internal Research and Program Development division of the University of the Philippines (UP) budget office.

But this was also the turbulent turn of the 1970s and the escalating social unrest swept several youth into taking a militant stance against the Marcos Sr. dictatorship. Paul was no exception. It did not take long before he found himself getting invited to discussion groups, attending them and – in due course – alternating between hospital walls and factory assembly lines among the labor unions of Gelmart, Triumph, La Suerte (local makers of Marlboro and Phillip Morris), Solid Mills, General Electric, Toyota and many others, giving the educational discussions, himself.

Paul was later tasked to organize individual artists and artists’ groups to help with the cultural aspect of the workers’ movement. He set out to the Mabini Street galleries that are only at a walking distance from the PGH and tapped (now notable) painters Papo de Asis, Jun Dulay, Lex Cachapero, Bading Cabrera (brother of Bencab) and Gene de Loyola. Coincidentally, this was also how he learned that his fellow creatives were paid in peanuts while gallery owners took the lion’s share of the sales of their masterpieces.

Paul also tapped the Kabataang Tondo Artists Group (KATAG), as well as Pablo Baens Santos, Rey Paz Contreras and Egai Talusan Fernandez, who are now major figures in the Philippine Social Realist Movement. What followed was a fulfilling life deeper in the people’s struggle.

Paul became a sought-after illustrator for several publications, but later just focused on printing – at some point taking on the National Midweek at the time when Pete Lacaba was editor-in-chief. Having mastered the craft even allowed him to make innovations to the camera used for color separation – self-assembling a vertical, instead of the usual horizontal, camera to capture colors better.

Afterwards, Paul became a consultant to printing companies for project biddings. He also accepted drawing, sculpture and production design jobs from students from neighboring Chinese schools to earn a living. He nurtured young talent, too, with his protégés winning top prizes in Indonesia, Taiwan, and China – prompting Jollibee to take notice and invite him to conduct workshops as part of their marketing strategy.

Deeply moved by the damage wrought by the Guimaras Oil Spill in 2006, Paul turned to painting fulltime – incorporating elements of Cubism – as a means to express his anguish and heartbreak over the incident and the loss of those whose livelihood depend on the sea. With childlike passion, he started painting fishermen hauling their catch – with the fish having heart-shaped lips, but vigilant eyes and sharp, bladed fins to defend itself and protect the country’s waters.

And ever the People’s Artist, Paul’s subsequent paintings would capture the essence of the travails of the Filipino commonfolk like peasants reaping their harvest, vendors feeding their children, or the magkakarlang (garlic growers in the mountains) harvesting his crops. His non-Cubist paintings also depicted construction workers building the nation, as well as images of food found on the poor man’s dining table. He would even sometimes leave symbolic hints honoring the life that he used to have.

For Paul Sena, art is a form of service to his countrymen. He never forgets for whom his art must be and would continue to feature the lives of the toiling sectors of society in his solo exhibits throughout the years – a testament to his enduring commitment to the struggle of the masses – revealing a man who has a profound sense of serving the people, great love for country and a sincere aspiration for a better society.