User:Maestro Ronilo Abayan

Maestro Abayan

Maestro Ronilo Dawatan Abayan(born November 5, 1965)is a Filipino artist, illustrator, and painter.

BIOGRAPHY Abayan was born in Impalutao, Impasugong, Bukidnon to Isidro Nanoy Abayan and Teresita Fabia Dawatan. He studied in Impalutao Elementary School and Bukidnon National High School, and graduatedfrom Don Mariano Marcos Polytechnic State College. He married Evangeline Seno Caruz, and they have three children: Angelie, Ivance, and Gabriela.

Growing up to bereticent, Abayan channeled his emotions through drawing at the tender age of 7. He would draw anything that he found interesting—from his family’s house, to the fiery image of the sun during a hot and humid day in Bukidnon, or capture the imagery of bancas as he relishedthe relaxing feeling of staying by the sea. Drawing was Abayan’s catharsis.

Life as a student When he was 8, he enjoyed drawing his friends but would not tell them because he was shy. His friends found out that he was very talented when one of them saw Abayan’s drawings on his school notebook. Abayan used his talent to earn extra money by working on his classmates’ art projects and drawings, even though he was just in the second grade. His innate artistic talent paved the way for him to open up and make friends with different people.

Abayanexcelled in Logic and Art and amazed his teachers with his impeccable skills in both subjects. He was 11 when he started playing Chess, which turned out to be one of his favorite past times until late.

Career After college, Abayan grew fond of cars and briefly worked as a mechanic for an auto repair shop. Soon enough, he engaged in artistic pursuits once again, creating movie posters and advertisements at a small movie house in Cagayan de Oro. His thoughts constantly battled between pursuing Art, as it did not pay much where he was; and working a regular day job to support his family.

He decided to pursue the latter and applied as a security guard at a post beside an all-girls college dormitory.The resident students grew fond of him and asked him to help them with their art projects. Sometimes,studentswould even ask him to make drawings to send out to their lovers, or create fanciful sketches to give out as gifts.Unfortunately, Abayan was fired because he was caught sleeping on the job. Despite maintaining perfect attendance since he started the job, his boss found drawings in his logbook which was construed as not being able to do his job well.Despite this unfortunate event, Abayan met the person that would change his life: the passionate and caring Evangeline Caruz whom he married later on.

While looking for another job, he met Bebot Cultura who turned out to be a good friend and teacher in developing his craft. Cultura urged him to try his luck as an artist in Cagayan, but because there was little appreciation for budding artists like himself, things did not work out well soAbayan went back to Bukidnon.

Back again inhis hometown, he worked as a security guard; this time for a different security agency. During one of his shifts, a shootout happenedandgreatly terrified him. This experience made him think how dangerous it was to be a security guard, and how life was very short not to fulfill his dreams—and so he did.

The beginning of his artistic journey In 1991, he went to Cagayan and put up a booth inside a mall where he drew charcoalportraits of people using only their 1x1 ID picture.He had a rule that if his customers did not like the portrait, he would refund their payment, even if he was only charging a small fee. He grew popular and mall goers started to flock his booth after they saw his work. Demand for his portraits grew and came to a point where he could not accommodate all of them anymore. Within a year, Abayan grew a steady roster of clients.

In 1993, he went to Cebu to try his luck as an artist. This time, he rented a stall at the Gaisano mall and continued doing portraits and drawings. One day, mall owner Stephen Gaisano saw his drawings and told him that his works were reminiscent ofrenowned Cebuano painter Martino Abellana’s works too. Soon, Gaisano asked him to do his family’s portraits.

In 2007, Abayan went to Manila and met the talented and altruistic painter, Joey Velasco. At an event, Abayan met Ivan Roxas and Jobe Nkemakolam, painter and athlete-turned-artist respectively. Nkemakolam became one of his good friends and later onbecame his manager.

To date, Abayan continues to paint portraits and images of beautiful sceneries. To date, his artcollectors include Miguel Zubiri, siblings Iñigo and Maricris Zobel, Imelda Marcos, among many others.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION In 2007, Abayan did Imelda Marcos’ first and only on-the-spot portrait.