Actually, this makes it worse for komiks creators. Since the 1st National Artist to come out of their ranks is being disputed as unqualified, and also his subsequent behavior unbefitting a person so honored, it gives komiks creators a bad name. As if it wasn’t hard enough to pass Coching et al. though the selection process before, now there’ll be even more objections to adding future komiks creators, regardless of whether these future nominees are qualified or not.

And on the flip side of things, if becoming National Artist has become reduced to a matter of politicking, then the value of becoming one has been lost (although of course that’s the elephant in the room).

@Gerry

The closest analogue to the National Artist in the U.S. would be the National Heritage Fellowship, given by the National Endowment of The Arts. I don’t believe there have been any objections to anybody awarded the National Heritage Fellowship, but the NEA has been criticized over the years for funding controversial artists. Here’s the most recent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts

After all, the important thing in this is not whether CJC deserves the award or not, but the question of should one person (the President) have the prerogative to add anyone she wants to the list of awardees. As I understand it, Presidents have had the prerogative to add one name since the time of Ramos. But to add four names and remove one — that certainly begs the question of should future Presidents continue have this privilege. When abused, it renders the selection process pretty useless.

“Not too many will object I’m sure. But I will still be here and point it out nevertheless. ”

True, but I doubt you’ll be organizing an online petition to have him removed, right?

“I’m thinking one solution would be to create subcategories. National Artist for Komiks Writing, and National Artist for Komiks Illustration. Yeah, I know. Like I said, it’s not going to be easy. I’m sure someone can come up with a better solution. Anyone?”

I don’t think that’s practical. What’s to stop people from asking for separate categories for painting, sculpture, digital art, political cartoons, street art, photography, etc. etc.?

I think it’s tragic that CJC gets recognized as National Artist before Francisco Coching. But overall, I think this makes it a lot easier for the real deserving comics artists to get the title now. If only because the status quo of Coching not having it will be even more embarrassing to maintain.

4. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

The Order of National Artists shall be given to:

Living artists who are Filipino citizens at the time of nomination, as well as those who died after the establishment of the award in 1972 but were Filipino citizens at the time of their death;
*Artists who through the content and form of their works have contributed in building a Filipino sense of nationhood;
*Artists who have pioneered in a mode of creative expression or style, thus, earning distinction and making an impact on succeeding generations of artists;
*Artists who have created a substantial and significant body of works and/or consistently displayed excellence in the practice of their art form thus enriching artistic expression or style; and
*Artists who enjoy broad acceptance through:
- prestigious national and/or international recognition, such as the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining, CCP Thirteen Artists Award and NCCA Alab ng Haraya;
- critical acclaim and/or reviews of their works;
- respect and esteem from peers.

I could have easily wrote this the first time around as part of my protest, but there is a certain amount of subjectivity to these criteria. Nevertheless, I think I can make a further argument against CJC’s qualifications based on these.

The collaborative nature of creating comics is still a concept that’s difficult to grasp. How can you award it? If they make a subcategory, National Artist for Komiks, and just award the writer, what then of his collaborators?

I’m thinking one solution would be to create subcategories. National Artist for Komiks Writing, and National Artist for Komiks Illustration. Yeah, I know. Like I said, it’s not going to be easy. I’m sure someone can come up with a better solution. Anyone?

Not too many will object I’m sure. But I will still be here and point it out nevertheless.

The reason why people are reacting so ferociously against CJC is not merely because of the fact that he’s not a visual artist (that is simply my objective mode of attack). CJC also fails miserably in other critiera (like Critical acclaim for his work, like respect from peers,etc., things Alan Moore need not worry about).

If we will return to the what is covered in the “Visual Arts” scope of the guidelines, this is what we will see:

“Visual Arts – painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation art, mixed media works, illustration, graphic arts, performance art and/or imaging”

If we go by this, then it stands to reason that no komiks writer is actually qualified to get the title, and not just CJC. Aside from the obvious fact that CJC is not a visual artist, this is the legal point that I’m standing on to support this protest.

This is an unfortunate flaw in the guidelines as it stands now. To allow komiks writers to get the title, the guidelines need to be amended, if not in the Visual Arts category, then in the Literature category.

It is clear, at least to me, that these guidelines were drafted without even considering komiks. This goes to show how little regard there is for komiks as a whole in the art world.

You have to understand that at the very least, we agree that CJC doesn’t deserve the award, but to take a stand simply on “He doesn’t deserve it.”, we are standing on shaky subjective ground. We will have discussions on “What is Art” and “What makes an artist deserving of the National Artist Title” which will have plenty of shades of grey on all sides. It’s a discussion that will most likely go on and on.

I had to find a stand that would be difficult to argue against. Specially an objective stand that’s backed up by facts, or at the very least *a* fact.

With the argument I’ve so far made, that CJC is not qualified because he isn’t a visual artist, there is concrete basis for it. A technicality yes, for the moment. There are other reasons why CJC isn’t qualified from a slightly subjective point of view, which I will list in another comment.

If the guidelines are amended, and or the Supreme Court upholds the Presidents prerogative to chose National Artists regardless of credentials, then I will continue with other arguments. Believe you me, this is just the start of it. I’m just exhausting all objective argument at my disposal at the moment.

I think it’s impractical to recognize collaborative work via the National Artist title. A writer works with several artists in his lifetime. How do you pick and choose which ones share the award with the writer?

If a comics illustrator (who didn’t write his own stories) won, should the writers he worked with also win the title? What if he worked with 100 writers in his lifetime?

I think the shared credit for writer and illustrator is just for purposes of recognizing “creators” of certain characters and titles. The National Artist title is a different matter altogether.

Setting aside for the moment CJC’s actual achievements and credentials, this point of yours about how equally important writer and artist in the creative process is actually a counter argument to your point that CJC is not a visual artist. If a large portion of his recognized body of work was writing for a visual art (comics), then I would think that makes him qualified. The final output of that writing were visual art pieces, even if he didn’t draw them himself. Similarly, a film director’s final output is the movie, even if he didn’t act in it himself. On this point, I actually agree with Floro Dery’s argument that he is qualified as a visual artist having been a writer for a visual art form.

I actually don’t think he deserves the award, but from a technical standpoint, I believe he’s qualified.