In 1964, BenCab encountered a homeless Filipino woman named Sabel. He became interested in her disposition as a scavenger and viewed her as symbol of isolation and despair. BenCab began sketching and painting Sabel, depicting her as the central character in his figurative paintings.
His series of ‘Sabel’ paintings (1960s–ongoing) capture the movement and sway of the woman’s clothes, which were made from scraps of material found on the street. The material drapes and folds over Sabel like a fashionable cape. BenCab transforms Sabel’s scavenged clothing into a high art and introduces a surrealist quality to the work by capturing Sabel’s energetic dancing.
‘Larawan’ Series
In this series of work, BenCab uses colonial photography as his main source of inspiration. The work is a nod towards the artist’s nostalgia for his homeland. While living in Europe, BenCab found rare Filipino prints and photographs in antique markets and bookshops. He began to use sepia-toned imagery of colonial iconography as a reference to create a series of acrylic paintings.
BenCab’s ‘Larawan’ series (1970s–ongoing) draws parallels between the past and present. Each painting visualises a distant era of Filipino life subtly connected to the present through the artist’s use of colour and composition.
‘Larawan’ has been exhibited in various shows throughout Europe. When the work was shown in 1972 at The Luz Gallery in Manila, the critical success of the exhibition established him as an influential artist among his peers in the Philippines.
