By CID REYES, artist and writer

Filipino Artists Magazine, volume 5, issue 24

Reprinted with permission by the artist and the author

As school children, we learned with interest and curiosity many tidbits of information about our country’s geography and culture, but one has never forgotten the stock knowledge, indeed inscribed in memory, that the world’s smallest commercial fish are to be found… in Lake Buhi. It is said that hundreds of years ago, it was here that people, fleeing from the wrath of Mayon Volcano, eventually settled. When the Spaniards asked how they had come to the place, they replied, “naka-buhi.” Meaning, they have escaped by evacuating or Éxodus. At the NakaBuhi Park now stand the statues of a fleeing family with their meager belongings cradled in their arms.

LOOKING BACK

Surprising, the name Buhi emerged after all these decades when we recently met the artist Roger San Miguel, who informs us that his birthplace was the town of Buhi in Camarines Sur, Bicol. Like the name Lake Buhi, the name “Roger San Miguel” was also etched in our memory, when as a young man interested in the arts, we enjoyed strolling along that famous street in Ermita studded with art galleries. Named after the Sublime Paralytic Apolinario Mabini, the area became synonymous with what is derisively called by the supposed Manila cognoscenti as “tourist art”. Here the souvenir-hunting foreigners are shown stacks of canvases of Manila bay sunsets, Filipina maidens harvesting rice, carabaos grazing in the golden fields, and luscious still lifes of mangoes, atis and watermelons.

Of course, the generation of artists that emerged after the war and comprised what in retrospect was a Golden Age of talent is all practically gone, except for the octogenarian National Artist Arturo Luz, the Spaniard with the heart of a Filipino, Juvenal Sanso, as well as National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva and Mauro “Malang” Santos, who, alas, are both not in the best of health. Other such names as Vicente Manansala, Hernando Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, Ramon Estella and Victor Oteyza, the original Neo-Realists, are all now written in the registry of Filipino Immortals. Romeo Tabuena, now in his nineties and living in Mexico, has not set foot in the country of his birth since he departed for Mexico in the early Fifties. Amazingly. there is one Filipino artist who has reached the century landmark: Manuel Rodriguez, Sr., the “Father of Philippine Printmaking”. But the lessons of good painting have all been passed on and absorbed by the Succeeding generation that, inevitably, is now also entering their autumn years. Unfortunately, recently departed was Mario Parial, but we still have among us, all actively painting, are the likes of the couple Angelito Antonio and Norma Belleza, Antonio Austria, Tam Austria and, of course Roger San Miguel. By sheer coincidence, they were all graduates of the College of Fine Arts of the University of Santo Tomas. As such they were mentored by Such legendary names as Dean Victorio Edades, Diosdado Lorenzo, the Italian sculptor Francesco Monti, and Antonio Garcia Llamas.

While admittedly many of those works were done by hacks, with no pretension there were some artists along Mabini who were seriously trained in art, several of them either by Fernando Amorsolo, dean of UP Fine Arts, or Victorio Edades, dean of two rival artists and schools. One of these artists with their established galleries of window showcase, the distinctively hand painted name ” Roger San Miguel” (stylishly intentional). Our meeting with the artist, now a still active septual shock of tousled hair and beard, sparked the thought that we were talking to one statesman in the field of Philippine art. Sharing the name of the country’s world to our mind, verily “St. Michael, the Art Angel”.

GIFTED SINCE CHILDHOOD

The eight in a large brood of ten siblings, Roger was gifted early childhood with drawing skills. The awareness of this talent was totally unself-conscious, manifesting in the child’s irrepressible penchant for drawing on any surface, on walls mostly. Even their neighbor’s walls were not spared. Aside from Roger’s parents, the first to notice the child’s talent were the school teachers who often requested for assistance in their posters, which entailed competent lettering. When other students’ artwork were exhibited, the young Roger vowed secretly to himself that he would draw better than the rest. This he proved when, in one painting competition, Roger won all the prizes, much to the shook of his teachers. More than a competitive streak in his personality, it was a desire to excel in art, which he knew at such a young age was his destiny.

Thus, while still in his teens, he more than welcomed the opportunity to work as an apprentice in a movie billboard shop of Bichara Theater in Naga City, where Roger’s father, a barber, had transferred his family. Starting from the bottom, washing the soiled paintbrushes, this was literally hands-on art training, beyond the need for intellectual art theory and fancy art meanings. Despite this, however, Roger had long wanted to come to Manila to further his art education, but where was he get the necessary funds to enroll? Fortunately, a retired ship captain in the person of Ramon Camacho, came into the picture and offered to help Roger with his tuition fees at UST. Thus enrolled, his professors were to notice the young man’s advance painting skills. In fact, even while still in school, Roger was already selling his works. Often, he would bring his paintings to Royal Art Frames, which easily found the buyers for them. Having found a consistent means of income, he then decided, after a few semesters, to stop schooling and to devote his full time and energy to painting. For Roger, a diploma had become a mere piece of paper. Even after leaving UST, Professor Garcia Llamas would invite the young artist to come over to his studio in Pasay, where Roger was told to paint still-lifes. The good professor easily found buyers for them.

LET THE PAINTING SPEAK FOR ITSELF

Having his own space in Mabini was itself heaven-sent. (One thinks of the real St. Michael the Archangel beaming down his blessings on his namesake-ward!) There was of course friendly competition among the artists with their studios in the neighborhood, among whom wore his soniors, such as Gabriol Custodio, Cesar Buenaventura, Ben Alano, Miguel Galvez, Paco Gorospe and Salvador Cabrera. The voluble and expansive Vicente Manansala, not yet the National Artist, was a good friend of these Mabini artists, whose studios he often visited. No doubt, Manansala, who placed the highest value on drawing, was impressed with Roger’s works, which were excellent examples of draftmanship. Let it be said that Manansala himself used to sell works in Mabini. Another future National Artist whose origins where also in Mabini was Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera, whose painting. on display in his brother Salvador’s studio, was once bought by Beatles Paul McCartney during their historic visit in Manila in 1966. Starting out in their art career, Sofronio Mendoza, better known as SYM, and his brother-in-law Romulo Galicano, both coming from Cebu, did paintings for the Mabini market. With such distinguished artists, one should think twice before turning down one’s nose on all Mabini art. The Cultural Center of the Philippines itself has seen fit to officially recognize the Mabini Art Movement with a retrospective show, complete with a well-researched catalog essay. It was a positive move to rectify what has been, in retrospect, an unjust oversight. Roger himself has never been insecure about having worked and sold his works in Mabini. In his own words, “Let the painting speak for itself”.

Mostly the artists worked in the classical conservative mode of painting: indeed they were adherents of National Artist Fernando Amorsolo. While they all shared in common certain favored themes such as the Mother and Child, floral and fruit still lifes, landscapes of the environs, fiestas and other Philippine traditions and customs, each one strived and succeeded in delineating his own distinctive and instantly recognizable style. In one interview, Roger declared, “I sharpened my craft in Mabini”.

Roger’s studio — with address at 1114 A. Mabini — was truly masuwerte (luck-bringer). Due to its vantage location, the studio was often visited by the wives of consuls and other officers from foreign embassies in the area. Many became his ardent collectors. For this reason, Roger was no longer impelled to keep on holding the conventional one-man shows, though to his credit, he has held solo shows at the legendary Philippine Art Gallery (PAG), founded by Lydia Arguilla Salas, way back in 1965-66. This was the gallery that launched the shows of the Neo-Realists. Indeed, all the artists that comprised the country’s artistic Golden Age — from Lee Aguinaldo and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz to Oscar Zalameda and Fernando Zobel— first exhibited at this historic gallery: Yoars later, Rogor would also prosent his works at various venues, such as the Quad Gallery in Makati, the Florentino Art Gallery in Ermita, the Great Pacific Gallery in Malate, and the Savoy Hotel’s Arts and Ends Gallery. In 1975, the well-known journalist Joe Quirino wrote of the artist: “At first glance he looks like a hippie, what with his beard and sharp looks. But once you talk with him, you’ll learn that San Miguel, one of the country’s youngest artist. Small wonder, he has been called the Musician of Colors.

Completely uninhibited, he paints life as he sees it. He captures not only places but people and aspirations, their fears and their loves. Truly his paintings “communicate”. ( While all these galleries are now defunct, they nonetheless serve the value of tracing the historical trajectory of our local art promotion).

It was the foreign market, however, which showed an even greater appreciation for his works. When Martial Law was declared in 1972, Roger was forced to reassess his situation in the light of the country’s crumbling economy and the political turmoil in the land. By then Roger had a growing family he had to support. (When still single, he had once posed to himself a critical choice : Fame, for which pursuit he would deny himself marriage, or family. It is obvious which one he chose. With his ever supportive wife, Mercy and five children, Romer, Reynor, Ruben, Ryan and Marianella, now grownups and professionals, Roger had made the right choice. Fame would come at the right time.) With grim determination, he decided to fly to the United States to consider his options. While at the American Embassy. Roger was spotted by a consul who used to visit his Mabini gallery during lunch breaks and who had become a friend. As in any situation of need or distress, it’s a case of “who-you-know”. Forthwith, and without any difficulty, Roger was granted a B12 visa. Arriving in Los Angeles, Roger was quided around by a Filipino resident. Thus did he brave to show his works, doing the rounds of posh and plush art galleries of Beverly Hills. Ever resourceful and prolific, Roger had executed, right there in America, several canvases using a palette knite, an instrument which he had already mastered. To his relief and elation, the galleries liked and purchased his works. One of these purchased works — a little boy running merrily with colorful balloons in hand — he would proudly see in the display window of the top dealer, the Aaron Brothers Gallery. With the salability factor of his works confirmed, the gallery had once brought rolls and rolls of canvas to his apartment for the artist to paint on. At that time, however, Roger had already decided to come back to his country.

VIRTUOSITY WITH COLORS

Moreover, for Manila’s top interior designers, Roger had become the dependable “go-to” painter. The mere specifications of size and dominant color were sufficient for the versatile Roger to conceive and execute both abstract works as well as representational paintings. The Mirror Magazine had once written that Roger San Miguel “demonstrates a rare combination of absolute command of colors, great skill, and versatility in style. He displays a virtuosity with the music of colors… and this young musician of colors justifiably scores one success after another”. Another magazine, Philippine Panorama, lauded Roger as one of our most gifted young impressionist artists”. Among the first to write about the artist was the poet-critic Federico Licsi-Espi no who, in 1968, rhapsodized over Roger’s use of colors, likening, for instance, blue to “the blue of larkspur, the blue of Mary’s colors” (T.S. Eliot), and red to the fuddy hues of life” (Thomas Wentworth Higginson to the poet Emily Dickinson). With all this adulation from the media, Roger had no shortage of collectors. Camp John Hay in Baguio, for instance had purchased for their cottages all original Roger San Miguel impressionist paintings of Filipino scenes.

That trip cemented their friendship. They shared the same small studio, divided between the two. It was so funny to watch them work Mr. Navarro is tense while working. While Roger is most relaxed. He sings the songs of Nat King Cole. Then his voice would go filat. And there would be laughter I felt there was a bond between them. You see these two artists working back to back Each had to step back– to look at the work. But they never bumped against each other.

The foreign market was partial to brilliant tropical colors that are always awash in our Philippine landscapes. Thus, it can be said with pride that in numerous American and European homes, the lively and glowing paintings of the Filipino artist continue to shine forth in their living rooms. Indeed, it was at the back of one of his paintings brought to Israel where an art dealer, an American Jew by the name of Michael Kroner, was able to get his name. As was the artist’s custom, all his canvases were stamped at the back with this address and contact number. So determined was Kroner to meet Roger that, in a matter of days, he had flown to Manila and stayed at the Manila Hotel, from where he contacted Roger and arranged to meet each other in the hotel lobby. In a place looming with Caucasian foreigners, Roger knew he would be hard put to identify the art dealer. But there was no need for concern: it was the dealer immediately identified the artist, whose face he had never seen. Said Michael Kroner to Roger : You’re the one that looked like an artist!”

Although Mr. Navarro and San Miguel painted in different styles, they were appreciative of each other’s work. Both came from UST. Though Mo Navarro was the senior artist, there was no rivalry between them.

Welcome Dance” at the Artist’s Residence in Ubud, Indonesia San Miguel addressed Mr. Navarro as “Boss”. Both Navarro’s and Roger’s paintings, it can said without undue pride, are among the finast on exhibit in Bali’s muséums. It is worth mentioning, therefore, the fondest dream of National Artist Carlos “Botong” B. Francisco, which was to visit Bali in his lifetime. This, sadly never did, dying relatively young from consumption. Were he alive to see the Balinese works of his two Filipino countrymen,” Botong” would surely have felt Vicariously fulfilled.

A thorough professional, Kroner, who wanted an exclusive business arrangement with Roger, had prepared a contract between the two parties. Thence for several years did Roger supply the paintings which Kroner presented as Roger’s solo exhibitions in America and Europe. It is no surprise that these days certain works of Roger San Miguel appear in several American auction houses, just like National Artist Fernando Amorsolo, whose early patrons were the Americans in Manila, who after their term of service in the country, had brought back Roger’s artworks to their homeland.

After Michael Kronor, other foreign dealers, such as the Spektrum Gallery in Sweden, Jurgen Wohlgemuth of Munich, Germany, and Ben Ben-Ari and Ludy Quintos of New York, sought out the artworks of Roger San Miguel. All played significant roles in popularizing Roger’s works in the world market.

The other providential meeting at 1114 A. Mabini was with Cornelius Choy, or “Cornia” tho ownor of Bamboo Gallery in Bali Indonesia. As it turned out, Cornie was a business colleague of the daughter of artist J. Elizalde Navarro, who in the future would be posthumously declared National Artist. It was Navarro’s daughter Pearl who would facilitate their meeting. As a regular purchaser or Roger’s paintings, Cornie was able to sell fifty of his Philippine paintings to the Indonesians. Cornie also invited him to visit Bali. “It’s about time”, he said. The Indonesian artists, who had already seen Roger’s works, were impressed by his works, then already being acquired by top Indonesian collectors and museums, were keen to meet the Filipino artist whose paintings were hanging side-by-side with those of the Indonesians. More memorably, through this Balinese sojourn, Roger made the friendship of Navarro the first of Cornie’s “Resident Artists Program”, who also came on regular visits to Bali. (The other was the Malaysian watercolorist Chang Føe-Ming). Indeed, the brilliant colors of Bali ablaze in their costumes, their exotic dances based on Hindu mythology, and the resounding music of the gamelan, the brassy and percussive Indonesian instruments, revitalized the art of Navarro, even as Roger was inspired to be working with an acknowledged master.

ESTEEMED BY FELLOW ARTISTS

In his own country, Roger is held in high esteem by artists with whom Roger enjoys a warm fellowship and camaraderie, such as Alfredo Roces, Ephraim Samson, Raul Isidro, Allan Cosio. Tiny Nuyda, Pandy Aviado, National Artist BenCab and many others. Indeed, there was a time when an artist was needed to recreate the missing pair of Fernando Amorsolo murals at the Metropolitan Theater. The murals depicted Philippine Music, titled “Awit” and dance, titled “Sayaw”. Believed to have been stolen during the theater’s many years of sad neglect, and to this day its whereabouts is unknown, the mural needed a competent re-creator to bring back into existence the glory of Amorsolo’s masterpiece. The honor went to Roger, who had to depend on the photographs of the mural in the Amorsolo book. After working on the mural for months, Roger finally unveiled a mirror-image of “Sayaw”, as if the mural had never been lost. Fernando Amorsolo himself would have applauded.

A long-time resident in BF Parañaque, Roger was among the “founding fathers” of the Artists Gallery, which opened in 1983. Together with Roger in this venture were National Artist Cesar Legaspi, El Jamlang, Raul Isidro, Raul Lebajo, Tiny Nuyda and Ephraim Samson, all residents within the subdivision. The idea was to give the artists an opportunity to be involved in the business aspect of art. It was impelled by the realization that certain gallery owners were taking undue advantage of artists. It was also high time that a burgeoning South of Manila needed its own cultural scene and an awakening of its residents to the beauty and humanizing value of art. Now, in his Paranaque studio, one finds Roger San Miguel working on his latest works for a scheduled solo exhibition, titled “Seasons of Life”, at the SM Art Center. Organized by Gallerie CMG, the show is bound to take the art scene by surprise, mainly because Roger had not been heard of these past so many years. His friend from Ateneo de Naga, the late photographer Frankie Patriarca, had written in the early years of his career: “ If Roger San Miguel needs an introduction, it is because he seems deliberate in escaping the limelight. Unlike the moth who rushes unto the light for that brief glorious moment, Roger hides in the safety of a self-made limbo. Perhaps, justifiably so, for he creates his own bursts of light”. When a few of his works were exhibited by Gallerie CMG at the recent Manila Art Fair, they were snapped up on the very first day, delighting his previous collectors who had lost track of the artist. In midst of the urban sprawl of a crowded subdivision, Roger’s residence and studio exude a welcome rustic air, with the low hanging spread of branches sheltering the several art pieces awaiting completion even as the oil pigments take time to dry before the master’s next touch.

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A PORTRAITIST

A word must be said in edgewise about Roger’s skill as a portraitist. Skill is a given, indeed, a “must”, this ability to render the likeness of an individual. In this, Roger’s talent is in spades, having done the portraits of three National Artists, namely, J. Elizalde Navarro, BenCab and Napoleon Abueva. In fact, in one large canvas, Roger assembled the collective portraits of over fifty Filipino artists, from the slickly pomaded Juan Luna down to the long – stressed Bohemian, Pandy Aviado. As well, Roger has done the portraits of a young statesman, Ninoy Aquino, and the founder of Iglesia ni Cristo Felix Manalo, in a portrait-within-a-portrait, with his progeny the late Erano Manalo. Illustrious businessmen with their families, and society dowagers in their elegant gowns, loom from his canvases, evidence of his dexterity with the palette knife. Such portraits bring back memories of Roger’s early years when he had painted a la Rembrandt. In the book Art and Artists, edited by Sir David Piper, one reads: “Even though portraits were largely commissioned as status symbols, this did not prevent artists of the caliber of Leonardo, Titian , El Greco, Velasquez and Rembrandt from showing remarkable insights into the personalities of their sitters — there is no feeling that these men were overwhelmed by the social position of their clients”. In riposte, wonders: might Roger’s sitters, with their own social position, have been the ones overwhelmed by his artistic skills?

Affectionately, Roger remembers to this day his own mother’s advice: to learn his colors and their harmonious combinations from nature, from leaves and flowers. This comes from a deep insight, for it was no less than Marc Chagall, who once remarked, “When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God-made object like a tree or flower. If it clashed, it is not art”. Mother—and Mother Nature—always know best. Already, while scanning the works, one glimpses a streaming narrative in the landscapes of gardens and fields, where nature discloses images of pregnancy and birth. Think of it as a season of conception, here culminating in the classic Mother and Child theme, which one can regard, too, as a season of love. In a work that brings the presence of the father, one admires the immutable Filipino theme of “Mag-anak”, auguring a season of family unity and harmony. For Roger, these are the timeless subjects of the Filipino artist. He renders them all in a fulsome fusion of Impressionism and Realism, where the brush strokes are daubed in flecks and layers, revealing the richness of underpainting, which in turn the eye mixes. It is an approach to painting that allows the artist the freedom to create a sense of reality, not curtailed by a predetermined and inflexible composition, while at the same time delighting the audience, with the artist taking us on an exhilarating course of painting. Interestingly, Roger San Miguel conflates the various genres of portraiture, landscape and still life painting. He is proud to say that he does not use or depend on photographs for his composition. Everything to him is a product of perception and imagination, which always communicate what is real and true.

LEARNING FROM NATURE

A review of Roger’s London show at the Madden Gallery (1973) merited a notice from critic Barbara Wright which was published in the magazine Arts Review, thus: “This is the London debut of a young Filipino artist who has already shown all over the world, from Australia to North and South America by way of Norway. In his large oils, the interplay of color and rhythm is striking. Many portray group of girls with handsome, stylized, triangular faces, whose luscious curves sometimes find their counterpart in the curves of the decorated jars surrounding them. San Miguel uses glowing reds and blues to great effect, and his figures are often dappled with the green leaves of the forest and interwoven with a multitude of birds. There is occasionally a hint of Byzantine mosaic, and in Filipino Family, the mother has the calm serenity and beauty of a Madonna. Flowers are everywhere, sometimes interwoven into composition, sometimes just as flower pieces, but these are a far cry from those we often see in which the flower’s seem never to have existed out. The emotive power of Roger’s works draw heavily from his kinship and intimacy with nature, which is never subordinated to the human figures, treating it as mere background or setting, but is acknowledged as the source of the painting’s essential pleasure.

In this, multi-figural works are the large-scale harvest scenes, fittingly titled ” Season for Gold”, and “Season for Yellows”. While both subjects are Amorsolo-esque, the artist imbues his works with a sense of activity and dynamism, in terms of composition and paint handling, distinguished by the multitudinous patches of colors visibly vibrating before our eyes. In “Season for Yellows”, the hue crystalizes and transmits the luscious ripening of tropical fruits like mangoes, melons, bananas and papayas, while “Season of Gold”, with its central figure of a woman, her head wrapped in bandana and her hands cradling bountiful sheaves of golden rice stalks, is heraldic in its celebration of the Filipino way of life.

How true are the words of the great Romantic poet William Wordsworth that there are paintings where “the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature”. Roger’s rendition of the “Mother and Child” theme successfully evade what J. Elizalde Navarro disdained as “pretty pictures”. The viewer always gets the feeling that nature, embracing the figures, is in the state of rapture, intensifying the stillness of the scene, observing the intimate nuances of affection of the Mother for the Child, lovingly proffering a tiny bird or the Santo Nino.

In an article titled “Painter of All Trades, Master of All”, artist Tiny Nuyda paid homage to his friend: “At the threshold of our century stands the art of painter Roger San Miguel, who imposes on us a strong belief that rendering the simplest objects, realistic, abstract or non-objective, can be a summit of perfection showing the concentrated qualities and power of a great mind. It is in Roger San Miguel’s constructed activity, his talent or impressing a work with feeling and the qualities of thought that gives humanity to art; and this quality is an unlimited range of themes and elegant form … His innovations amaze even the masters of the time”.

In our art scene that has seen and embraced the procession and progression of various modern idioms, such as Surfealism and Cubism, Abstraction and Minimalism, it is a comfort to know that there are still artists who remain votaries and torchbearers of classic Philippine subject matter. Still with brush and palette in hand, Roger San Miguel, from out of his absence and seclusion, has nothing more to prove when it comes to painting. Now in his mid-seventies, Roger’s challenge is not with Art… but with Time. And the instrument he knows best to wield against its inexorable march is art itself… which is impervious to time.

And thus, the place where all his artistic narrative started, the aforementioned Buhi whose famous lake is the site of the world’s smallest fish, will henceforth also be known as a place that gave birth to a most accomplished Filipino artist, whose works, like ambassadors of Philippine goodwill, are proudly scattered to the four winds.

About the author (reprinted from Imahica Art Gallery): CID REYES is a rare combination of the Filipino artist and art critic who has produced an impressive body of works in both fields. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts at De La Salle University, he received a grant from the Italian government to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Thence, he pursued his art history studies in England at the City Lit Institute in London. His first solo show was held in 1969 at Joy Dayrit’s Print Gallery, followed through the years by shows at Solidaridad Gallery, The Hyatt Hotel, West Gallery, The Drawing Room, Ricco-Renzo Gallery, and Galerie Astra.

As an art critic, Reyes’ record of achievements commenced upon winning the Grand Prize in an AAP art criticism competition. This was then sustained by the landmark book of interviews, “Conversations on Philippine Art,” a decade-long weekly art column from 1995 to 2004; “Gallery Hopping,” in TODAY, where he wrote over 500 art reviews; coffee table books for National Artists Arturo Luz, BenCab, J. Elizalde Navarro, and Napoleon V. Abueva, and scores of art books on Malang, Augusto Albor, Lao Lianben, Charito Bitanga, Valeria Cavestany, Edwin Wilwayco; the Philippine Art Awards’ “Decade of Achievement,” and; the Metrobank’s art competiton, “MADE of Gold.”

In 1979, the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) presented Reyes with a “Best in Art Criticism Award.” In 2015, he was a recipient of the “Most Outstanding Kapampangan in the Arts” presented by the Government of Pampanga. In 2021, his coffee table book “MVP: The Man and His Art” won a GOLD Trophy from the American Business Awards. Making history, this is the first Philippine art book that has gained international distinction.

Further immortalizing his expertise through authorship of several art books, Reyes is also a co-author of “Tanaw: The Central Bank Art Collection” and “Herencia: The BPI Art Collection.” His most recent books are on the Spanish, Manila-based artist Betsy Westendorp and the MVP Group of Companies Art Collection. Whereas, his forthcoming books are on the glass sculptor Ramon Orlina, Prudencio Lamarroza, Roy Veneracion, and the Saturday Group’s 50th Anniversary.