Monte de Piedad, that narrow street cutting through Aurora Boulevard, is home to a junkyard that offers a lot of exciting finds and other possibilities for a collector. It is run by Jun Macaro, a big, soft spoken man, who has been quietly gaining a reputation as an up-and-coming dealer of quality and affordable collectibles. My last visit yielded a beautiful Santo Sepulcro in antique ivory. A month later, I decided to drop by again and check out his warehouse of odds and ends.
I came in after lunch, and he was not quite ready for my unannounced visit, but he opened his stockroom anyway, that was full to the brim with all sorts of vintage items. Indeed, his place was a scrounger's delight!
I surveyed the place and began systematically going through the items piled up in his shop. The first one was a very desirable book on Philippine sacred art, now out of print--Prusisyon. Extant copies now are priced at Php2,500 and up--if you can find one. So, into my shopping bag this book went, for just 800 pesos.
But there was more. A small painting of a nipa hut lay near the book--and the dealer was quick to pint out that it was a vinate work of famous artist named "Laya". Of course, he was half-correct. One look at the signature, and I knew this was the work of an important Kapampangan artist named Elia Laxa.
He signed his work by scracthing his name using the wooden tip of his paintbrush--a trademark signature that appears in all his works. This particular painting--no more than 8 x 10 inches dates from 1972.
The river town of Guagua is not without its own homegrown artists who, though not as publicized and as well-known as their counterparts, command attention from patrons in the art circle. The most successful perhaps is the artist Elias Laxa, whose seaside and landscapes have come to be recognized as valuable vignettes of Philippine scenes.
Laxa was born in 1904 in the fishing barrio called Banka in Guagua, Pampanga. A the age of 16, he left for Manila, but it was only at the relatively advance age of 25 that he enrolled at the U.P. College of Fine Arts. There, he studied under Fernando Amorsolo and graduated in 1933. Like what they say about starving artists, Laxa took on odd jobs, including sign painting for Escolta shops. He plunged into serious painting only after the War, supporting himself by giving private art lessons. An early supporter was a kabalen—Emilio Aguilar “Abe” Cruz, the artist-writer from Magalang. He eventually settled in Hawaii with his family, who also dabbled in arts.
Lots of luck and a little bit of haggling, and Laxa was mine to keep. Not bad for one afternoon of effortless hunting along Cubao's street of trash and treasures.
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