CrownPlas museum, by invitation only

SURPRISINGLY enough it took me half an hour to get to the CrownPlas Museum on D. Tuazon ( Quezon City) from Makati, on a Sunday. The four-story private enclave belongs to Mr. Eddie Chua who invited friends and relatives for the 69th birth anniversary of his late and much-lamented wife, Norma Tuason. I had not met the gracious Mr. Chua until that very evening, it was Christian Aguilar, son of National Artist Federico Aguilar Alcuaz who asked me to come.

Very candidly, Mr. Chua said that he and his wife “discovered” Filipino painters in, of all places, a show of nude Tessie Agbayani paintings where art critic Rod Paras Perez, introduced them to some painters. At that time, Mrs. Chua fancied Swarovski and was building a crystal collection of limited edition pieces; they also had orientalia. However, they decided to acquire paintings of those they had first met like Galicano, Sym, Dans, Abueva and Alcuaz. Paras Perez swore the latter would someday be a National Artist.

Today, their inventory of Federico Aguilar Alcuaz is unrivaled. But, it was not easy because, prolific as he was, Aguilar Alcuaz was extremely picky about parting with his paintings. The Chuas had to gain his confidence as they followed him to various parts of Spain and Germany, to New York and back to Manila. Mr. Chua said, in Germany, Alcuaz pulled a painting from under his bed.

As an Aguilar Alcuaz fan, I was nostalgic while viewing his paintings lovingly ensconced at CrownPlas. Some reminded me of art exhibits at the Luz Gallery in the 60’s and 70’s, others I had never seen before, enormous canvases ( Manila Bay during Pope John Paul II’s visit), abstract miniatures, and blue nudes on ceramic vases. No wonder, lawyer-historian Saul Hofileña is also an imperishable admirer of Aguilar Alcuaz.