🌞2023 is the 20th Anniversary of the Honors Code of the Philippines (Executive Order No. 236, s. 2003) (President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) (Order of Lakandula)
🌞2023 is the 19th Anniversary of Executive Order No. 310 (GMA) (Prescribing The Design And Use Of The Coat-Of-Arms, Seal, And Flag Of The President And Vice President Of The Philippines And For Other Purposes)
🌞With forever gratitude to my dear friend and mentor Manuel L. Quezon III 🇵🇭
🌞As artist/designer for both executive orders, under PGMA and MLQ3, for a long time I had thought of them as my “greatest work bar none.” Years later, in a meander of success and setback, they are an extraordinary anomaly in my art and creative career. Now with the perspective of a seasoned 48 year-old artist and designer, it is the captured lightning in a bottle moment, the connective tissues, in the serendipity of diverse—and illumined—events and milestones. Ultimately, they changed my life for the better, and made my parents very proud!
🌞Now I get to utilize the national heraldic motifs and numismatic designs for my upcoming book “Philippine Mythopoeia”— taking on my allegorical and religious (oftentimes heterodox) college thesis and post-college paintings from the 1990s; to corporate design work in the 2000s; my blog musings from twelve years ago, and my collective “designs with history” (history and art museum-related designs, numismatics et al).
🌞I’m not famous! But I’m happy to be in the venerable company of Melecio Figueroa, Galo B. Ocampo, Fernando Amorsolo, and Gilbert Perez.
