CAGAYAN de Oro City is recently showing so much progress particularly in business. The same can be said for arts as the city is beginning to show growth of budding local artists and art enthusiasts.
Albeit there is still the need to further promote the city's local artists, encouraging art lovers to patronize local artworks.
Nonetheless, one cannot deny that Cagayan de Oro has talented artists. While some are still starting to create a name for themselves, there are some who have been doing exhibits and joining regional and national (and even international) art competitions.
Recently, a Kagay-anon artist won as one of the top five winners of the Philippine Art Awards (PAA) National Competition for 2018 last month.
The Philippine Art Awards is a national visual art competition which helps in the contemporary art development in the Philippines.
Last November 22, Michael Bacol from Barangay Concepcion, Cagayan de Oro City won the award for the Mindanao Regional Competition of PAA and the Award of Merit for the PAA National Competition.
“Of course, ma-shock gyud ka. Kasi at first, they will read what is the description of the work. And then suddenly they said man gud nga it’s about doors so [I said] ‘Oh my God, that's my work.’ And my friend also: ‘That's yours Mike, that's yours,’” Bacol said as described what he felt during the announcement of the top five winners for the PAA National Competition.
“And when I was at the stage, I nearly cried but ako lang gipugnan kay maulaw ko,” he added.
Bacol shared that receiving a national award, and an award from the Philippine Art Awards at that, has given his confidence a boost and made him feel proud and happy of what he achieved.
According to Bacol, his winning artwork, a painting of various kinds of doors, depicts the life of the family involved in the Tokhang campaign in the country.
“It talks about what is the life [of those families who were involved in Tokhang] and what is makita nimo sa ilahang situation,” Bacol said.
“And it’s not about anti but its neutral lang siya. It’s not [about me being] anti or pro, but it’s what I see around our nation, around me. So ako sya gi-express,” he added.
Bacol also mentioned how this is the first time he received an award for winning a national competition as he often got trophies and prizes for winning the regional level art competitions.
In fact, Bacol has won several awards such as the national recognition as a finalist and semifinalist in Metrobank's Made art competition in 2001. It was, according to Bacol, the first award he gained.
In 2003, he was selected to participate in Sungdu-an 3, a major travelling art exhibition organized by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts.
He also qualified as a finalist in the Philippine Art Awards-Philip Morris Art Competition in 2008 and 2010.
Bacol was also able to launch his first solo exhibition entitled “Into the World of Innocence” at the Father Francisco R. Demetrio SJ Gallery of Museo de Oro in Xavier University in August 2017.
Apart from being awarded and invited for art competitions and exhibitions, Bacol is also a grant recipient for a six-month residency program at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California, and International Studio and Curatorial Program in the Big Apple sponsored by the Asian Cultural Council in the Philippines and New York.
Being able to observe the works of the artists from the United States, Bacol was able to notice that the artists in US were not discouraged in their endeavor to make a place for aesthetic through murals.
He has been into arts for more than 40 years, starting in grade school when his drawings were filled with cartoon characters.
And even though he studied mechanical engineering during his college and worked for a few months in an engineering service in Lapasan after he graduated, his love and passion for art did not diminish.
After less than a year, he decided to quit his job and work full time as an artist.
“I feel nga dili ko happy kay naa ko sa office, during drafting sa mga gears. So I decided to quit and mag full time na ko sa art,” Bacol said.
“It’s my passion and I want to create more nga based on my experience and ideas, kay if I work in a company, I feel like crazy because restrictive sya kaayo. So I want it to be free kay I will not be happy siguro if I work in a company,” he added.
In 1999, he joined an art group, the Oro Arts Guild, which is now called the CDO Arts Guild.
“Didto ko nakatuon sa grupo nga art is something that you express what you experience, what you see around you,” Bacol said.
At present, Bacol is working with the Department of Tourism-Northern Mindanao, with the department's plan to launch Art Turismo, a tourism, art and culture campaign, in February 2019.