Gallery of Philippine Contemporary Art

A short workshop at the UP College of Fine Arts during the summer after high school changed his mind. Reggie took the talent test and, a week before the results were supposed to come out, pestered the college secretary to reveal if he had passed or not. "Sabi ko, I have to know because if not, I'm going to enroll in another school," he shares. "That if I didn't (enroll), that school was going to give my slot to somebody else." He passed, went home, and a few weeks later entered UP's halls as a Painting major.

Entering college with no formal artistic education, UP would become an eye-opener. The art galleries, theater galas and museums enthralled Reggie. Unfortunately, the freedom was overwhelming as well. He slowly began shedding the routinely behaved tendencies forced upon him by his conservative, all-boys Catholic high school-- and started skipping classes. "Wala na akong pakialam sa grades. Pumapasok lang ako para makapasa (I couldn't care less about my grades)," he recalls. "Minsan hinahabol ko pa 'yung teacher kasi babagsak na ko (Sometimes, I had to run after the teacher because I was going to fail)."

Later, however, exposure to the arts and people devoted to the arts pushed him to focus. That and the realization that his lifestyle could get him kicked out of college. He got down to work and was soon composing structures on paper. But shortly after he started painting on canvas, Reggie realized that the medium wasn't enough. "I wanted to go beyond the boundaries of whatever it is I'm painting on. My perception of space went much farther."

Sculpture was a viable option. It was where he could combine both artistic freedom and geometric intellect. Though he hated numbers and doesn't take well to formulas, Reggie is spatially gifted. "For some reason I'm a builder. Ang utak ko parang engineer, parang architect. (My mind is like that of an engineer, an architect.) Very technical," he explains. So much is his love for construction that he traded his slightly used car with an old one, only to restore it with his own two hands.

Reggie was only the second to graduate in his batch with a degree in a "relatively unappreciated and unsupported art." Yet even before he stepped out of Diliman, he already got a taste of professional exposure. The Society of Filipino Sculptors, then known as an organization made of well-established yet older artists, was looking for new blood. They scoured the UP College of Fine Arts, the only local school with Sculpture majors, and found Reggie. They surveyed his work and invited him to a meeting, which led to a series of exhibits and later on, a long-term membership.

"The people there asked questions -- real questions -- about my art, about myself," he recalls. "Eventually I became more confident, and more comfortable at the same time." Reggie remembers being awed as he sat and discussed art with the likes of National Artist Napoleon Abueva. When he graduated, he would become the youngest -- by at least 20 years from the next -- recognized sculptor in the country for a long time.

Now there are new ones trying to break in, and Reggie welcomes them, going as far as to give workshops to interested students. He's been in the industry for ten years, and he's beginning to feel the push. He admits that he's taking the future into consideration, and is working harder than usual, saving more than usual, giving something back, and being practical in the midst of artistic freedom. "Siyempre as a person you don't want to end up alone, eventually you'll have to settle down and support your family," he says. "I'll have to try and find that balance."