It has evolved so that the artist’s signature is the authentication of his/her artwork’s .jpg)
soul.
And there is something about the signature of National Artist for visual arts Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera (referred as Cabrera from hereon) that has evaded our conscious attention.
Cabrera is celebrating BenCab: 50 Creative Years, and its ongoing component, “BenCab: The Filipino Artist,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (MMM). As their titles indicate, the artist’s moniker is spelled as “BenCab,” with the C of Cabrera appearing in upper capital. Distinctive and stylized, it now appears as its official spelling.
But it is not. Cabrera did not sign his works in a single way, but at least in five styles throughout his prolific career of artistic cycles based on opportunity and its phases. This basic and all-important aspect of his art is largely unsettled, even confused, which this article attempts to decipher.
His MMM show provides the definitive answer to this issue. Showcasing works from his pre-fame period to the present, it displays the spectrum of how he signed his works in the intervening half-a-millennia that none of the books about his art can ever visualize.
But his biographer, Cid Reyes, spells it as “Bencab.” The purpose may be grammatical precision, but even this is not entirely valid. It misrepresents Cabrera’s signature as he has been using it in his works. Such practice, however, is permissible in formal writing.
Until 1964, Cabrera signed his works as “Ben Cabrera” or “Bencabrera,” giving prominence to his nickname, “Ben.” But he was unsure of his signature, taking to it as a matter of unnecessary consequence. But by 1964, a year before he marked as the beginning of his artistic evolution, he also signed a work as “bencab” in Fishing in Sexmoan (1966) and “BENCAB” in Sabel in San Andres (1966).
Two other Cabreras, also painters, were better know at the time he was still an aspiring one: his second eldest brother/artistic guide Salvador “Kuya Bading” Cabrera and his cousin, Benjie Cabrera. So he decided to differentiate himself by using the professional name “BENCAB” — a streak of originality that would be his most potent creative tool.
According to handwriting analysis experts, all-caps writers are uncomfortable talking about their personal lives — at least in interpersonal relationships. They do not want others to know about themselves. Often, such writers do not express their emotions in public. This indicates that he does not like to relate to people at a personal level, except, for sure, to a limited few.
By 1965, the Manila Times publishing company hired him as illustrator and layout artist for the Sunday Times Magazine, its Sunday supplement. His pen-and-ink drawings were signed “bencab,” spelled as a joined connection of the first syllable of his first name and surname. And, yes, all in small letters.
But his debut solo exhibit at Gallery Indigo owned by his Kuya Bading in 1966 showed him reverting to the block printing of his signature as shown in such works in acrylic as Scavengers (1966) and Sabel in San Andres. As he signed mostly using a brush, he could not initial in script.
But his signature drastically and distinctively changed in his succeeding works from 1967. He painted works accentuated by ink details in Mag-Ina (1968), Madonna in a Jeep (1968) and Scavenger (1968) at his second solo exhibit at the Luz Gallery. He signed with the fluidity of pen writing as “bencab.” Having then determined with certainty how he would like to sign his works, perhaps an indication of improved confidence, he started to communicate.
When Cabrera sketched Caroline Kennedy’s head on an ordinary paper napkin and signed it, “bencab ‘68 INDIOS BRAVOS,” it indicated how he wrote and signed his works in this breakthrough year. This signature matched Cabrera’s well-known introspective and non-communicative personality as confirmed by Kennedy.
When Cabrera lived and worked in London with wife Kennedy, there was a period he even stopped using “bencab” and signed as “Cabrera.” Specifically in the Larawan series, he signatured A Typical Gobernadorcillo and His Wife (1972), An Oriental Fan (1982) and Melancholy (1085) as “Cabrera.”
It was the same in the Drapes series such as Drapes III (1971), the Expatriate Filipinos series like Hospitality Girls (1978-80) and Rene’s Performance (1988), and the Pink Series such as Punk Series (1989).
The signature “bencab” must have come off as strange among Londoners as it did not reveal his nationality; neither indicative of being Spanish nor Filipino. Being a relative unknown when he arrived in the epicenter of the British art scene, the signature “Cabrera” gave him the sense of nationality, of Spanish stock, an artist from the Philippines. It made it easier for people to remember and spell the name.
As the Filipino artist who established his racial stock, this full surname also gave him the creative direction of delving in his people’s past and present. But it was hardly an attempt to “internationalize” his name. He continued to use “bencab” for works exhibited in the Philippines where the monicker branded him.
He determined to use “bencab” when he signed works in oil or acrylic using a brush, signing it separately, first as “ben” and then “cab.” This is clearly an attempt to write in script as it is more representative of his penmanship.
The stylized “bencab” is meant to give that effect, but it came out as quasi-script so that the C appeared bigger than the rest of the letters, as a stroke miscalculation. But realizing that it makes his signature unique, Cabrera adapted the style.
No wonder they appear mostly in the large-format works like Isadora Dancing (1999), Walk by the Sea (1999) and Sabel (2003). However, other works are unsigned like Kutsero (1970), A Family of Servants (1972) and Gaze (1981).
Was it to distinguish “ben” from “Cab?” Going through his works in the MMM show, this appears not necessarily the case as it is more an attempt to sign in script. It is apparent that the “C” does not always appear as a capital letter as clearly shown in Flor C’s Portrait (1995), The Huntress (1997) and Images of the Past (1999).
Still, such signature anomaly indicates he signs in small letters. The spelling is actually a misrepresentation of his actual signature, which is this article’s main thesis. By their number, “bencab” is Cabrera’s most dominant signature style, which will be taken for this purpose as his real signature.
This small-letter signature is consistent with Cabrera’s personality which must have been enhanced in due time. But it does tell of a highly focused artist that uses introspection to communicate in his works.
What he cannot express, Cabrera paints. Vastly creative and infinitely important, his paintings inarguably are the medium of this outstanding non-verbal communication.