In the 1970s, a young boy named Cesar Cabase Castillo was awarded Best Blackboard Artist. This was during the era of scratch chalk drawings; he soon graduated from Grade 6.
Fully intending to take up Fine Arts in college, he was met with strong opposition from his parents who insisted he take up Mechanical Engineering. The obedient child that he was, he got the degree and the license.
His first job was designing for Mindanao Rattan and he was quite happy there until his parents wanted him to move to San Miguel Corp. Again, he forcibly shifted his career direction to make them happy. He had a drawer under his desk where he stored his painting materials. Back then it was paper and charcoal since he had just begun practicing his own style in black and white.
He joined a Celso Pepito workshop in 1994 even while he was working full time as he wanted to train in oil and pastel. When Jose “Kimsoy” Yap returned from the United States, he also joined his workshop to develop his watercolor painting skills.
Cesar fondly mentions that he benefited from both masters and will never forget how Celso would always remind him to try to make sure that his pieces would relay a positive message and Kimsoy would constantly encourage him to improve his technique. By this time, he was painting daily; starting with small pieces, scrimping on materials which were hard to come by back then. He never disposed of any of his work, whether he was happy with the outcome or not. His supportive wife Gina kept everything he made because she knew how important it was to him.
When Cesar was 47 years old, he made a life-changing decision that would qualify as “career suicide” for most people. He decided to quit his corporate job and focus on his art full time, to the horror of most people around him — including his foreign boss who tried to hold on to him for months before finally realizing he had to let him go.
Only one person was truly happy for him at this point, and that was Celso.
Why the need for such a drastic move, and one that’s almost beyond comprehension as the demand for art at that time was low? Cesar shared how he felt he was not free to move around while tied to his desk; he wanted to travel, to explore and to commune with fellow artists because he felt that was his true calling in life.
After many twists and turns, he felt he had truly reached his lowest point when one day, while preparing for an exhibition in one of those buildings in Cebu IT Park, he realized it was his wife’s birthday. With only P100 left in his pocket, he asked her what she wanted and she simply said it was French fries. When the exhibit opened a few hours later, someone randomly gave his wife French fries — such a happy coincidence — they now had money left to be able to go to the Sto. Niño Church and attend the novena mass.
When they returned to the exhibit, two of his paintings were purchased by foreigners — one of the Sto. Niño and another one of flowers — for P5,000 each. They went home with truly grateful hearts.
By joining the Cebu Artists Inc. (CAI) group, he began to sell more pieces as he traveled around and joined more exhibits with them. What sets Cesar apart from the other artists is his preference to have a free hand in choosing his subjects. He candidly admitted that doing commissioned work curtails his freedom of expression, and so he would always tell his buyer that it cannot be done in a rush and let them decide if they are willing to wait.