At 82, BenCab creates his giant Sabel—in bronze

‘Sabel’ in bronze

National Artist Ben Cabrera or BenCab is creating his biggest sculpture of Sabel, the woman in rags immortalized in BenCab’s art who has become a timeless symbol in Philippine culture. Cast in bronze, it is two meters high, and is still a work in progress, its process laborious. The National Artist has devoted time in the foundry in Yogyakarta in Indonesia working on it.

This, BenCab has embarked on in his octogenarian years. He just turned 82 last April—proof of how numbers could tell a lie, for BenCab’s zest for art and living is that of a millennial, or as today’s political correctness put it, it is not age-specific.

BenCab, or Maestro, is not one to stop learning, exploring, and experiencing—be it in his art, be it in building a by-now tourist-destination museum in Benguet’s rainforest, or growing coffee or bonsai, or doing photography, or traveling. To him art is life, a non-stop evolution and change, where he has gone from the comics illustrations of his youth to the provocative trove of his years of life abroad, visual treasures that have become culture representations—and a nation’s upheaval—of the ‘70s, ‘80s, all the way to the new millennial 2000s. The past decades, his presence as National Artist has given him a captive audience here and abroad who awaited his forays into various mediums, and even heeding his views and commitment to pressing national issues.

Indeed whether as purveyor of art, including pop, or as a multi-awarded Filipino, BenCab is not one to waste his platform even through this digital age. To put it bluntly, old age is not wasted on him.

Rear and side profiles of Sabel

He is a wanderer, and his latest wanderings have brought him to create a giant sculpture of Sabel—sculpture in the round, in contrast to his earlier metal sculptures—in a foundry in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

It all began with a visit at BenCab Museum by the owner of Gajah Gallery in Singapore, Jasdeep Sandhu. The gallery has branches in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Sandhu and Indonesian artist Yunizar founded Yogya Art Lab (LAB) in 2012. They developed the foundry to enable Yunizar to cast high-quality bronze.

When Sandhu visited the BenCab Museum in August 2023, he was very impressed, especially with the works of BenCab.

BenCab told TheDiarist.ph: “He photographed several of my works in the gallery and finally settled on the Sabel painting which I produced while in a month-long residency with STPI (Singapore Tyler Print Institute).”

BenCab went to Yogyakarta twice, staying there three to four days each time, the first in early November 2023 to do the finishing touches on the clay Sabel, which was then cast in bronze.

The second time was in January 2024, after he attended Art SG (Singapore art fair) where Gajah Gallery exhibited Sabel in bronze.

“After that, I began work on the two-meter-high Sabel which will also be cast in bronze,” said BenCab.

BenCab puts the finishing touches on the clay model of ‘Sabel’

BenCab at Yogya Art Lab

What inspired BenCab to focus on metal sculptures at this point?

“I had worked on cut-out metal sculptures with Abitare Internazionale, but this time I hand-painted the second metal layer,” he recalled. “The wall-bound sculptures I exhibited at BenCab Museum for my 80th birthday show two years ago also had three to five layers of metal but they were not hand-painted. Those, as well as the ones shown at Altro Mondo recently, were fabricated in Italy based on my design and under my supervision. The more recent Altro Mondo show featured the different Muses of Love, Beauty, Grace, Confidence, Elegance, Compassion, Strength, and Courage.

“It is my curiosity to experiment, try new mediums, and explore new avenues that drive my artistic evolution.”The Muses are still on display at Abitare Internazionale’s Makati showroom.

Bencab 3 (‘Beauty’), part of ‘Muses’ metal sculpture on display at Abitare Showroom

: Bencab 2 (‘Love’)

: Bencab 5 (‘Elegance’)

Why the colors, we asked. “As I grow older, I realize how colors bring brightness and light to my world,” he said.

The sculptures were fabricated in Italy but again painted by BenCab in Manila. It was a tedious process as the first layer of metal had to be unscrewed and removed so he could paint the second layer.

That’s on one hand. On the other, his giant Sabel sculpture in the round, he considers his breakthrough stride to classic sculpture. “First I worked with clay, then the casting in bronze. It’s a sculpture that will last 200 years, long after I’m gone,” BenCab told TheDiarist.ph.

And this Sabel that’s demanding in size and artisan technology can be done only in a foundry like that in Yogyakarta.

James Page, the technical director of the foundry YAL in Yogyakarta which is operated by Gajah Gallery, describes for TheDiarist.ph the tedious technical process:

“The process of creating Sabel begins with a virtual 3D modeller working closely with Sir Ben to realize the general form, size and appearance of the sculpture. Upon completion, it is checked and approved by a process of examining videos and 3D visualizations before progressing to the physical clay modelling stage.

“It is at this time that Sir Ben comes to the foundry to apply final touches to the surface, to confirm proportions and areas such as the facial expression.

“Once the 1:1 final scale is finalized, it is then molded to replicate exactly the original clay. The next process then begins, to calculate the best way the sculpture can be split into castable sections, which then determines the size of the wax positives. These wax recreations of the clay are then given sprues, risers and cups and undergo the shelling stage where they are coated in a ceramic shell.

“YAL uses a lost wax casting method for Sir Ben’s works to ensure the most accurate surface capture from the original clay. Once the wax is melted out (ie. lost wax) the empty shells are then kiln-fired right up to the minute before the silicon bronze is poured. After forming new and final bronze positives, these parts then undergo a process of welding and chasing to recreate the original clay that Sir Ben approved. The final stage culminates in sandblasting the surface and an application of hot patina, lacquer and then wax, following the color palette chosen by Sir Ben during his visits to the foundry.”

Seeing the intricate folds of Sabel the sculpture, and her face expression, leaves one in awe that indeed, this is a mammoth masterpiece of the National Artist, its sheer scale and process and artistic imprint a milestone for BenCab.

The two-meter-high Sabel is yet to be finished, and is yet to be exhibited, perhaps in Singapore.