The Lagonoy Gulf tides rise and drop. Sun sets to give way to the night. Staring beyond the eastern coast of Tabaco at dusk, this young man made a promise to himself that he would go places. The son of a boatbuilder, his family lived a simple life. His father was a skilled marine craft artisan like many Bikolanos way before his time who built and repaired the mighty galleons at the astilleros during the Spanish colonial days. Learning from his father, the artist Melchor Rosales Sabariza (b. 1977) realized the value of hard work, patience, and perseverance.

The young Mel was naturally gifted as an artist. He knew he could build a career in the arts. He completed his bachelor’s in fine arts, major in Advertising at the Aquinas University, now University of Sto. Tomas, Rawis, Legazpi. While still in college, his works were recognized in several painting competitions. He was a Semi-Finalist in Shell National Student Art Competition (1994), a Finalist in an On-the-Spot Painting Competition, Legazpi, Albay (1995), and a Semi-Finalist in Deovir Art Competition (1997). When he rejoined the Shell National Student Art Competition in 1998, he made it as a Finalist.

At Aquinas, he honed his skills and mastered the arts, ready for the challenges of the real world beyond the four corners of the university. When Mel left his hometown of Tabaco, Albay, he landed a job in the city of stars becoming a TV Production Assistant for ABS-CBN’s Creative Creatures, Inc. Behind the scenes, he did work on sets and prop design for sitcoms like “Home Along Da Riles” and “Palibhasa Lalake.”

After his stint with ABS-CBN, he found work in the Middle East, becoming an interior decorator in Bahrain, an artist-sculptor in the United Arab Emirates and an event designer in Dubai. To survive the lonely days being separated from his family in the Philippines, he turned to his love for music. He and his friends would gather for music jam sessions. Mel played the drums and did the vocals. His band’s favorite genre was 90’s Pinoy boyband music and they covered popular songs by Eraserheads, Parokya ni Edgar, and Yano. He also collaborated with his bandmates to write original compositions, inspired by their experiences as OFWs.

In 2015, Mel moved to Singapore to work as a prop’s maker, air brush and painter mostly for public art installations and for theme park establishments. Though it was a brief stint, he was able to master the use of different mediums such as styrofoam, cement and fiber glass. Upon his return to the Philippines, he worked with a group of Spanish artists in Laguna. The nature of work was similar to that in Singapore.

His full-time job enabled him to return to his love for art. He participated in group exhibitions for his paintings. His style was influenced by steampunk art and social surrealism rendered in impressionistic forms. He enjoyed the limelight his works brought as exhibit opportunities came in. He had his first solo exhibit entitled, “Tribu,” showcasing his paintings in Kape Kesada Gallery (Paete, Laguna, December 2019 – January 2020).

A propitious shift in Mel’s art medium brought a drastic change to his emerging art career. He turned from being a painter to becoming a sculptor. He used his skills and familiarity with different materials that he has learned through years of working in various creative industries. “The competition in visual arts, painting in particular, has made me decide to do sculpture,” he revealed.

Common Grounds Series

However, it was not to be an easy overnight shift. He remembered his first sculpture exhibit. His entry was to be showcased together with known sculptors at the time. On the day of the show opening, his sculpture arrived at the venue broken with just a few minutes to spare before guests came in. His heart sank realizing his masterpiece could not be repaired in time. The experience, however, did not dismay him. He decided he would need to build physically stronger sculptures. From tutorials, he taught himself how to weld metals. He learned to produce sturdier armatures for his sculptures. To add texture and intricacy to his works, he fused metals and found objects with epoxy clay and resin, with a coating of linseed oil for patina. And so, the rest is history, as they say.

As a sculptor, he has participated in over 30 solo and group exhibitions, both local and international, including selected shows at the Sentro Leona Galeria Museo (Journey to the Center of Steampunk, November 2020 and January 2021), the SM Megamall Art Center (New Normal, June 2021), Manila Art 2021(SMC Convention Center, November 2021), and Daloy Likha Gallery (Ali Mall, Quezon City, January 2023). Mel is also member of Kintab, the Bikol art collective whose recent exhibit Meta (February 2024) was at Arte Pintura in Ermita, Manila.

Spanish Galleons Series

Throughout 2022-2023, the artist featured many of his mixed media sculptures in art galleries and on his FB page, notably his Spanish galleons and other nautical vessels that are sought after by art collectors. Historia Art described the sculptures, “These pieces are truly amazing, from sheer size to the amount of detail. Another obra by multi-awarded visual artist Mel Sabariza.” Likewise, Sentro Leona Galeria Museo enjoins international collectors of the Spanish galleons to consider purchasing from the Philippines’ top galleon model sculptor, Melchor Rosales Sabariza, stating, “He is the only artist who has aspired to keep the tradition of sculpting model galleons alive.”

For Mel, his typical day at his workshop would begin with him checking around his stash of knick-knacks that he would transform into his envisioned masterpiece. With one fragment at a time combined with another, the idea in his mind would begin to take shape, becoming a tangible object of art. If he felt there were missing pieces, he would go around the neighborhood on his bike and scour nearby junk yards and surplus shops for discarded artefacts, metal scraps and unique objects that he found interesting and useful. A group of “kalakal boys” would also regularly supply him with materials for his art. The tedious process of unearthing random objects from a pile of bric-a-brac seemingly of no value is like solving a puzzle only his imagination can comprehend as he assembles the loose components in his artistic mind to craft a masterpiece.

Nautical art: Filipino balangay, Chinese junk boat and Spanish galleon

Mel did his first solo show with Historia Art (July 2021). In an interview, JV Esposo, owner of the art gallery, said he took immediate interest in Mel’s works at first sight. “Usually, steampunk art style tends to be melancholic but what sets Mel apart from other steampunk artists is the combination of so many details and textures in flamboyant colors. His works are more dynamic, and this makes Mel’s sculptures unique.”  (Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retro futuristic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. – Wikipedia)

At Historia Art, he showcased his “Common Ground” series. Inspired with patriotism, he created architectural structures symbolizing the backbone of the nation, namely its people. Although Filipinos are beset with problems like economic difficulties, political issues and social degradation, Mel chooses to highlight their optimism – as a people, we tend to give a helping hand to one another. To him this was manifested during the pandemic. His works also magnified the Filipino spirit of compassion and resilience. In his “Workmanship Series,” he gave tribute to his roots as the son of a boat maker. This series was his modern interpretation of nautical vessels with his signature texture, colors, and patriotic message.

Selected steampunk mixed media art

Eric HJ Mallonga, lawyer, art advocate, and founder of Sentro Leona Galeria Museo, a leading exhibitor of steampunk art in Marikina Heights, wrote about the metamorphosis of Mel’s Kafka works which were featured in the Steampunk Indio Art Exhibit (January 2024):

Master Artist Melchor Sabariza presents his own interpretation of (Franz) Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Even as cockroaches, vermin, lice, and bugs are dirty, lurid, sometimes bloodsucking creatures, Sabariza gives the hideous pest some character for which it is never defined by. He presents the cockroach like some romanticized version of Jiminy Cricket, the fictional character created by the Italian writer of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi… Sabariza’s cockroach bears some resemblance to that of actual cockroaches or crickets. But his attire is fashionable.  He wears his wings like a suit, dons a golden aviator cap, blue goggles, an orange raven-beaked mask, and strums a pink violin.

Mallonga lauds the works of Melchor Rosales Sabariza, stating, “These are precisely reasons that Sentro Leona Galeria Museo continues to host these art exhibits of Steampunk Indio Collective.  There is no greater source of contemporary metaphysical activity of depth present in creative constructions of great artistry than your guild.  Bravo! “

The Daloy Likha Magazine spotlight on Mel Sabarizo and his works concludes:

The only time he has ever looked back was to see how far his journey has come. He never dwells on his hardships, challenges, and solitude. He remains faithful to his vision and realization of his dreams. His sculptures are summation of the story of his life. It includes joy, pain, hurt, suffering, faith, and love – important ingredients to make a beautiful life and an equally exquisite art. Like a worthless coal which was forged in fire for so many years to become a diamond, Mel Sabariza’s masterpieces are testaments of a great Filipino artist worthy of distinction and recognition.

(Reported by Jojo De Jesus for Dateline Ibalon based on content from the Daloy Likha Magazine (March 2022), Tres Colores FB page (March 2024), and Eric HJ Mallonga FB page (January 2024) with permission from Mel Sabariza. The post header features selected works by the artist.)