In conversation with Galerie Joaquin’s Jack Teotico on the 5 criteria that transform artists into masters

But the 80s was also a time of national turmoil. “This was martial law, the Philippine economy had gone down, Ninoy had just been shot, and the art market was totally dead,” Teotico says.

“I chanced upon an art gallery in Makati, where an elderly gentleman was drawing and painting. As it turns out, he would later become a national artist, he [was] Ang Kiukok. This other guy, he was the leader of our group and would also turn out to be a national artist, Cesar Legaspi. We had a great bunch of people, Malang was there as was the best expressionist artist of the Philippines, Onib Olmedo.”

In case you missed it: Remembering Cesar Legaspi

This was also where he met an artist that would become a long-time friend and supporter of Galerie Joaquin. “Then this foreign guy who looked like Clint Eastwood [would arrive] and everybody would be excited to hear his kwentos (stories) about art in Europe, because at that time hardly anybody could leave the country,” Jack says, trying to contain his voice in apparent admiration. “He turned out to be a future Presidential Medal of Merit awardee, Juvenal Sanso.”

Through attending the sessions several times, Teotico became the youngest member of a group of artists who, according to him, would later turn out to be “the gods of Philippines art.”

The Saturday Group is often exalted as the Philippines’ “elite” group of artists. It started only with a handful of creatives who would congregate every Saturday for an afternoon of art sessions. Unbeknownst to them, the original rosters have gone to become pillars of Philippine art. And Jack was “in the thick of it all.” “I became a sort of special events guy of the group, organizing activities, doing the write-ups since I had a column.”

Being a member of an illustrious list of artists provided Teotico with great opportunities. He bought artworks from his friends, mostly on an installment basis, and he displayed these pieces in his house. 

“Whenever some of my friends would visit, they would get excited. One day, [a business friend] asked me if [he] could buy a painting by Sanso. I refused–-it’s not for sale, that’s part of my collection.” Yet, his friend insisted, so Jack bluffed his way out of the (non)negotiation, or so he thought. 

See also: Juvenal Sansó: Master of Visual Artistry

“I gave him a price, a price foolishly high [hoping] he’ll get turned off. I tripled it!” he says, laughing. Jack’s friend then went to his car and went back inside the house carrying a check. To Jack’s surprise, it had the exact amount he had said earlier, and at this point, he knew his bluff did not work and there was no turning back. So he went to Sanso bearing the news, expecting an angry response. But Sanso welcomed it happily. Teotico, however, did not think about this further and wasn’t in the business of selling art. Until it happened again.

“When I retired, an early retirement, I remembered that it was going to be a good way to earn a living–-the pressure isn’t too hard, and you can take your time. I used to do it from my house. But somebody told me about a nice space in San Juan, I initially refused thinking that it was just overhead. I [had] moved to a condo in Wackwack and was selling from there. However, I noticed some people were reluctant to visit a personal place, so I thought it might be better to rent a space,” he says, thus, came the birth of Galerie Joaquin, “and the rest is a natural progression.”

Galerie Joaquin, this year, is celebrating its two decades in the industry, on top of other milestones. It has since expanded to different locations and birthed other galleries.

See also: Colour Me Emerald: Inside Galerie Joaquin’s 20th Anniversary Celebration

Being a gallerist is a job less talked about. Jack explains, “When you’re a gallery owner, you are in charge of the artistic direction. So what you need to do is to choose which artists to invite to your roster of artists.”

So how does Jack Teotico make his artistic discretion? “I have developed a set of criteria, which I will categorize in five,” he says. There has been much debate about what separates great artists from the rest. In history, several artists have set their names in stone, and to craft a rule for this seems moot and academic. But for a gallerist, this is not just a job, more so a raison d'être. So it’s just fitting that Jack answered with much decisiveness.

“The artist should have a vision. When some people think of abstract art, they think of texture and colors. Some artists will subscribe to trends, splash texture on a canvas, and call it abstract art. It might work for others,” he says “but for me, a true artist should have a vision, a concept and must be able to explain what he/she is abstracting.”

He furthers: “For example, Arturo Luz’s Cities of the Past is a product of his sojourn to different temples. He made an amalgam of Hindu, Christian, Muslim and even Byzantine temples and he put it all in one artwork. He put steps leading you toward a higher deity. It was brilliant! The abstraction of the ecumenical concepts through temples. He didn’t even have to have elaborate details as he just chose to capture the essence of these temples.”

“Second, the artist must be innovative. He must do something that has never been done before,” he continues. “What made the impressionist painter create? The impressionist form is a reaction to the traditional, romantic and classical art. The impressionists broke up light. They gave the painting a new look, a new interpretation. The world that the impressionists created: the softness and beauty of a Monet, a Renoir or a Degas; and then Van Gogh created something different again, his strong expressionist strokes, ang bigat, ang lalim, ang dami (the weight, the depth, the quantity).”

See also: The Van Gogh Doctrine: An Artist’s Legacy

Jack’s third criterion is technique. “You can have the best vision of art and [be] the most innovative, but if your technique is lousy, you’re not going to get past the first hurdle,” he says. “In art, usually hindi puwede yung pwede na (mediocrity will not cut it).”

He leans in closer, as if telling an utmost secret. “To me, while all the first three are important, the fourth weighs just as much as all of them combined,” he revealed. So what is his fourth criterion? “Emotional impact,” he says, “does it hit you? If you look at a painting and your reaction is ‘okay lang (just okay),’ then it is not good enough. Me, as a gallerist, I [think] about that reaction.” He illustrates a Sanso painting to drive his point home. “When you acquire a Sanso, you’re buying into his emotions. His dark period will make you sad, his joyous period, if you had that on your wall, it will make you happy. A successful artist is one who is able to share his or her feelings with you. Malang, despite our major disagreements in the past, I respect him as an artist. He was able to capture the Filipino psyche with his colours, his subjects of flowers, women vendors. People thought they were so mundane but [they weren't].”

Last on his list is signature. “Not many artists can attain that because sometimes it may look the same. Like this painting of capiz windows, that’s Edwin Tres Reyes; Dominic Rubio with his long necks; Angelito Antonio, a cubist [interpretation of the Filipino way of life]; Norma Belleza, fiestas; Sanso with his Brittany landscapes. You don’t even have to go near the painting and look at the literal signature to see their signature. The artwork itself has become their signature.”

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