Role Artist Name Lito Mayo | ||
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Full Name Manolito Tolentino Mayo Died May 4, 1983, Manila, Philippines | ||
Lito Mayo (December 17, 1954 – May 4, 1983) was a Filipino graphic artist, print-maker, avantegarde poet, social activist, sculptor, satirist, and art professor. His prolific career was brief; it lasted only a mere decade. He was one of the active young artists who experimented, collaborated, and exhibited art works in the thriving hubs of modernist and contemporary galleries and art associations in Ermita District of Manila. He was also credited by his peers and art writers as the "Original Punk" of Philippine Arts.,
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Early life
"Toto" as known to friends and family, was born Manolito Tolentino Mayo on December 17, 1954 in Lipa City, Batangas, the eldest son and second child, of banker and entrepreneur Sebastian Mayo and Belen Tolentino Mayo, a teacher and homemaker. Lito Mayo has six other siblings- Nelson Mayo (businessman), Merle Laquian (artist), Zaide Manes (homemaker), and Nancy Rabena (educator), Elvira Milo and Abeth Garcia (both medical doctors). His father was an employee at the Philippine National Bank branch of Lipa City who had retired early to establish The Lipa Trading Company, a multifaceted family business endeavor that included insurance, financing, real estate, agriculture, tax preparation and a Suzuki motorcycle dealership and tricycle shop.
He studied at De La Salle Lipa, one of the local high schools that was established by the Lasallian Brothers. Then, just barely 17 years old and barely out of highschool, Lito Mayo got married to Irma Hermano on June 19, 1971. The bride was the daughter of Porfirio and Pacita Hermano who owned and operated D'Crowns Tailoring, an establishment that served the uniforms and flight suits need of the military student aviators and officers inside Fernando Air Base.
The couple had two sons. Michelangelo Mayo was born on December 11, 1971 and Leonardo Mayo on June 15, 1975. He would later have a two-man show with his son Michelangelo (at age 7) in celebration of The International Year of the Child.
The Thomasian Life: University Days and Activism
Eventually, he enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas where he completed his BA in Fine Arts.
He was a Philippine artist who was won several major competitions while in the University of Santo Tomas, including the 1973 Sculpture and Graphics Awards, 1977 AAP graphic arts Competition, and the 1980 Critic's Choice Awards for Graphic Arts. He was believed to be the very first punk in the Philippines, through his hairstyle, looks, lifestyle and his artworks. He also actively supported the alternative music in the mid-1970s.
His early work in college was heavily inspired by Cubism, wood print blocks and sculptures. Mayo established himself in graphic arts, with print plate etching as his major technique. Intaglio, xerographics, and silkscreen processes were also incorporated into his early works. Business Day writer Angel G. De Jesus wrote that Mayo was 'a surrealistic expressionist with a satiric sense of humor.'
Mayo's subjects and compositions usually embodied magical themes, amulets, animal people, and subconscious wanderings. In his work Pula Puti, he depicted a cockfight scene with roosters having human forms - the two gladiatorial roosters having strong, muscular physiques.