Raul Isidro continues to paint every day in his studio.
A longed-for reunion among high school and college classmates, who turned out to be colleagues in the advertising industry in the ’70s, became a field trip of sorts. This happened in June 2019, before the pandemic. We were going to visit Raul Isidro, a prolific artist, an abstract expressionist.
My companions, Lydia Ney and Mara Williamson, were Isidro’s classmates in Fine Arts and advertising at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). Mara and I were officemates at McCann Erickson in the ’70s, where she was an art director and I was a copywriter. Lydia was my high school classmate at St. Theresa’s College in Manila. She was our class artist, whom we would request to draw Elvis Presley. She worked as an art director with Philippine Advertising Counsellors (PAC) and J. Walther Thompson (JWT), both ad agencies. Pit Santiago, who studied Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines (UP) and also worked at McCann and JWT, drove all the way from his home in Marikina, with stops in Pasig to fetch Mara, and two different villages in Parañaque, where Lydia and I live.
Raul Isidro’s ‘Lunar Festival’ (2017)
Isidro’s three-story studio gallery is in a quiet neighborhood in Parañaque.
On the way to his place, Mara revealed that Raul was a working student. “Kaya laging absent yan.” This Raul later corroborated, and he added that he had to sign many IOUs for tuition. But I’m getting ahead of my story.
It was an afternoon of storytelling I was not prepared for. On our first meeting, Raul Isidro was a gracious host. He had a delicious lunch prepared—nothing fancy, lutong bahay. He always has guests, he said.
All his stories were in the context of telling his classmates what happened to him in the last 50 years or so after graduation. I was just a tag-along friend interested in art, and these are my impressions of the man.
“Gutom” is how parents worriedly look at painting or creative writing when their children aspire for such work. For Isidro and other well-known artists, art pays off nowadays.
He enrolled in Architecture since that was what his father wanted. However, he shifted to advertising since most graduates of this course could find work right away in ad agencies. He worked for his teachers’ ad agencies while still in school and worked full-time after college.
Raul Isidro’s ‘Red Sails’ (2016)
His passion for painting never waned. He studied painting at Philippine Women’s University (PWU) while working in sales at Nestle in his 20s. “It was at PWU that I pursued my painting career,” he said. He would always join national art contests and jokingly, he recalled how many students didn’t want to graduate just to be able to qualify for student art competitions.
At PWU, he would take care of his student’s IOUs, to his wife’s consternation. She wondered where his salary went
Isidro later taught Fine Arts at PWU for seven years before being appointed director of Fine Arts. At PWU, he would take care of his student’s IOUs, to his wife’s consternation. She wondered where his salary went.
He was one of the 1979 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardees, and was nominated thrice for the National Artist Award for Visual Arts. He became president of the Art Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Association of Printmakers, and he went around the country teaching printmaking. ”We covered more than 20 destinations in Luzon, Visayas,\ and Mindanao.” He won national awards in sculpture, printmaking and other art competitions.
In 1981, Isidro received the Australian Cultural Grant and lectured about Philippine art in Brisbane, Sidney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra. He was also given a grant to attend the Unesco Art Congress in Spain in 1998. Isidro participated in group exhibits in India, Israel, Indonesia, the US, Germany, France, the Netherlands, China, Singapore and Spain.
An interesting detail was that in 1984, Cory Aquino and soon-to-be-Philippine Star publisher Betty Go Belmonte and the Cojuangco and Aquino women were his art students. Cory reportedly complained to Betty, which Betty then relayed to Isidro: “Mahigpit ka daw magturo (You’re a strict teacher).”
In 1985, he moved with his family to the US, where he painted full-time and joined the local arts council. When he returned to the country after 10 years, his province mates asked him to run for vice governor in Western Samar. It was during the campaign that he realized that politics was not for him. “I prayed every night na matalo ako,” he laughingly said.
Raul Isidro’s ‘Blue Festival’ (2021)
Here in his studio, his many canvases were in varied stages of completion and on display in his gallery. I saw an impressive array of large paintings, mostly colorful abstracts with some on round acrylic, which were featured on Philippine stamps. On display were his sculptures, prints, and portraits that show the range of his art—from realism to abstraction.
Isidro struck me as a giving person. He would help students and starving artists because he had been in the same situation. He encourages other artists to paint, and is generous with tips on art. “Don’t worry about style. Just paint and you will see it develop,” he related.
Raul Isidro’s ‘Procession’ (acrylic on canvas, 2019)
He honed his craft through discipline and dedication. “I paint seven days a week,” he said—even today in his senior years. He has done watercolors on print, worked with paper, gold leaf, and ceramics, and produced monoprints (combined painting and printmaking). He works with acrylic in varied canvases—circles, ovals, squares, vertical or horizontal in orientation. There are movement and spontaneity in his strokes and colors to capture moods and feelings, be it festivals or landscapes.
‘I paint seven days a week,’ he said—even now in his senior years
His early stint in marketing led to his way of selling his works as well. I give credit to Isidro, the man who gives and now receives the riches (in friendships and other achievements) he truly deserves.
I learned a lot in one afternoon spent with new friends and artists. There are the health risks in using oil and pastel in a closed studio, for example. An artist could get sick from inhaling toxic fumes regularly.
He gave us a souvenir—his autographed book on his retrospective show at the Ayala Museum in 2014, a veritable collector’s item.
It was an enjoyable afternoon, even if my knees felt the strain of climbing up three flights of stairs helped by my sturdy cane. But no regrets. Isidro has informed us in an email that since then, he has had an elevator installed “for the oldies.” I want to bring my two artists in the family next time.
Art enthusiasts can now view Raul Isidro’s solo exhibit Resonance from March 3 to 11, 2022 at the Gallery Joaquin Rockwell, PowerPlant Mall, Level 3. He is celebrating his 79th birthday this March 3.
Spending an afternoon with Raul Isidro (far right), from left, Pit Santiago, Lydia Ney, Mara Williamson and the author
