JOPUNK ROCKS, JOPUNK ROLLS 2

By Arnel Mirasol

Shown in this photo, cutting the ceremonial ribbon with Jojo Garcia, are guests-of-honor Flora Urquico and Atty. Raymond Fortun. Also in photo are, from right, Ria Malvar, gallery owner Nina Malvar,  Aileen Beltran-Gutierrez , Oca Magos, and myself. I don't know the name of the lady at extreme left.

Jojo Garcia opened, last December 12, his first solo exhibit at the Kartini Gallery. And preposterous as it may seem, he had Rod Aniag to thank for it. Why preposterous? You see, Garcia had complained to me several times about Aniag's shameless plagiarization of his jeepney paintings. Aniag not only copied Garcia's paintings without crediting Garcia for it, he also had the temerity to exhibit those copies and post them online at facebook. I did something to help Garcia. I announced on one of my facebook sites the plagiarism done without mentioning the name of the plagiarizer.

To no avail, because Aniag did a reprise of his dastardly act and copied this time Oca Magos' Gitarista.The last straw was when Aniag submitted to the Kartini Gallery the very image of Garcia's Byaheng 80s painting for use in the poster/invitation for Kartini's forthcoming Mission Artists Philippines' group art exhibit. Garcia and I cried enough!, and post right after on our respective facebook timelines our condemnation of Rod Aniag - this time mentioning his name.

Aniag fell into disfavor with Kartini owner Nina Malvar because of that, and Garcia became her darling of sorts. Nina was so struck by the talent and humility of the man, that she prodded Garcia to go for a solo show in her gallery. Which Garcia did. As expected, what Garcia exhibited are the motifs that are near and dear to his heart - like jeepneys, an electric guitar, soda cans, and his favorite rock star apparently, John Lennon. (below).

I've already written lengthily about Jojo Garcia's art that I see no need now to expound on it once more. What I'll do is repost below my April 3, 2014 blog on him -  the blog whose title is the precursor of the title of this piece.

JOPUNK ROCKS, JOPUNK ROLLS

Jojo Garcia's love affair with jeepneys continues. Jeepneys as subject matter in painting have already been done to death, so to speak, by many Filipino painters in the past. Vicente Manansala, Antonio Austria, and Rock Drilon, to name only the most prominent, have dabbled with the jeepney motif at one time or another. There was also Junjie Versoza, Jojo's close friend in college, who made the repeating frontal images of jeepneys his signature style then. It was perhaps fascination with Junjie's paintings that prompted Jojo to do his own take on jeepney images. (below left, a painting by Junjie Verzosa)

Anyway, despite not being the pioneer in the field of jeepney painting, Jojo's substantial contribution to jeepney visual lore isn't diminished one bit. His jeepney paintings (samples below right) also fascinates - and amuses. The words and phrases written on the jeepneys' "headboards" (or visors?) and bumpers are very revealing not only of the milieu, but also of the very personality of the artist himself.

From words like Rock n' Roll, Walastik, Wild Street, Betrayed, Oioioi, Dead Ends, Bandits, Sex Pistols, Rakista, and Kankaloo, we can easily deduce that Jojo Garcia was a "punkista" from Caloocan, who have chucked off his old ways and found his true path in art. Jopunk rocks, not through music, but through his paintings. And he's also on a roll these days. Jojo excused himself from joining us on several occasions because he was up to his neck with painting jobs. His jeepney paintings are - pardon the cliche - selling like hotcakes. That's why he no longer has time to bond with us, his old comrades-in-art. But that's a positive development, I suppose; because I'm sure that when he gets to find the time to join us, he won't hesitate to pick up the tab and treat us all to the mother of all drinking binges.

Above photo, taken during my younger son Kai's first birthday celebration in 1988, shows from left, Rolly San Mateo, George Calma, JR Alonzo, and Jopunk Jojo Garcia himself.