1984 / Oil on canvas / 76.2 x 121.92 cm / Artist: Jose Blanco / Lopez Museum and Library collection

This large painting portrays the water festival of San Clemente, patron saint of the Laguna lakeshore town of Angono, attended by hundreds of townsfolk.

The main feature is the pagoda (festive raft), which bears the saint, standing under a canopy at the left and covered in a white sheet, surrounded by the noisy, elbowing throng. More than the saint, however, it is the townspeople the painting celebrates: they are depicted realistically without idealization. Blanco likes to point out and identify each individual face—that of Inggong Laklak, Goriong Kuping, Atang Mael, Inang Elang, etc. Fisherfolk and peasants, old and young, are all in one way or the other related to each other in the extended Filipino family. In each portrait, character is revealed through the distinct facial expression, the look in the eyes, the quality of smile or frown, the turn or pose of the head, the general stance. A rowdy group at the center jokingly threatens to throw a fellow villager into the lake. Blanco himself, wearing an undershirt, happily lifts his youngest child over his head. All are dressed simply and without the least ostentation.

This painting was done in the period of transition between the Marcos and Aquino governments. While there is a celebratory mood in the expression of communal spirit, the sky presages a storm, but the lake is still the giver of gifts, and the stout-stemmed water lilies thrive in the water like resilient bouquets.