There’s ‘a little darkness’ to Iza Calzado, muse, collector and art show host

A teardrop rolls down Iza Calzado’s cheek on a current television episode.

What’s remarkable is that this is not a teleserye, but a new show on the Philippine contemporary art scene that the actress is hosting called “State of the Art.”

The segment deals with photography, and Calzado was reacting to “Ang Mga Walang Pangalan,” an installation featuring Carlo Gabuco’s photographs of the deadly drug war, and a recording of a young girl recounting how her father was gunned down in their living room.

“It was really moving,” recalls Calzado. “How could I not shed a tear?”

It was a real emotional response captured on camera, something that occurs all too infrequently on television, let alone on an art show—a genre long associated with chin-stroking pundits, gushing dilettantes or would-be doyennes of culture.

“State of the Art” premiered last June 17, and will run every Sunday at the 11 p.m. time slot, with a replay at 11 p.m., on Wednesdays, on ANC.

“Today it feels like we’re experiencing another golden age in art,” says Kara Alikpala of Storytellers International Inc., producers of the show.

“Galleries are mushrooming as fast as chef-driven restaurants. There are longer queues in the art museums. The malls and universities are creating space for art like never before. Fiction films or the narratives and documentaries are churning out amazing masterpieces celebrated here and abroad. Indigenous Filipino fashion has been given a contemporary twist and it’s no longer simply formal wear or a costume, but clothing for the every day. And the list goes on of artists and artisans putting forth boldly their vision of the world. Their stories must be told, this is why we thought of the show. We want more people to experience the golden age in Philippine art to instill more appreciation, to invite support for people who weave the soul of this nation yet are so under-appreciated.”

Global culture

Contemporary art has become a focal point for the emerging global culture, and is now regularly featured and examined in-depth on mass media and the internet for a mass audience. The Philippines is no exception.

“The art scene is so vibrant in the Philippines and it would be a shame not to capture the spirit that is fueling it,” says Ces Drilon, ABS-CBN’s lifestyle content head, who acquired the show for the network’s news channel ANC. “We feel that there is a hunger among ANC viewers for a show like this.”

“We focus on original Filipino art, mainstream, independent, traditional, alternative,” adds Alikpala. “This is not a high-brow show. It’s art for all, even the nonart lover. We feature artists with a clarity of vision.”

The first two episodes reviewed the Manila Biennale and Art Fair Philippines, with a focus on photography. Future episodes will feature, among others, the once-in-a-lifetime Juan Luna exhibit in Singapore and the world of Philippine comics.

To host the show, Alikpala went with Calzado, whose career straddles both the mainstream and indie cinema worlds with roles in both TV dramaseryes and small, independently produced films aimed at the festival circuit.

“Iza is intelligent but she doesn’t flaunt it,” says Alikpala. “She is naturally curious and has never lost that sense of wonder. This makes her relatable. She can represent the audience taking the journey in art. She supports art events, mainstream or indie. Whether cinema, dance, installation, paintings, photography, fashion, food art. She’s an artist and so was her father, so she has a deep understanding for the people she covers.”

She also has no pretensions which, on television, is a big plus.

“I’m obviously not an expert on art,” she admits. “Honestly, I only got into it because of BenCab when he chose me to become Sabel.”

This was in 2015, during the celebration of the National Artist’s 50th year in art, when Calzado played the artist’s iconic figure in a stage presentation. As a token of appreciation, BenCab drew a charcoal portrait of the actress, which remains one of her treasured possessions.

“I don’t know anything about technique,” she adds. “I just know what I like and what I don’t like. I have a very curious mind, and I’m not afraid to ask questions.”

Too late

Ironically, Calzado was a fine arts major at the University of Santo Tomas.

“I enrolled in fine arts, major in advertising, by mistake,” she recalls.

By the time she realized that what she really wanted to study was communication arts—an entirely different route to advertising—it was too late.

“I never really liked to draw,” she admits. “They were making me sketch human figures in motion—naiiyak na ako nung anatomy na. I was so frustrated because I would have to do the plates (drawings) and I would go to school thinking I had accomplished something, and ang pangit ng work ko compared sa classmates ko. I was a really bad student. Pasang-awa. Pa-petiks-petiks lang.”

Luckily, she discovered her other talents along the way. Her father, the choreographer and director Lito Calzado, had suggested show business, but she was initially lukewarm on the idea.

“I was in so much denial,” she recalls. “My father was in the business, so when he told me [to act] I would say ‘you just think that because I’m your daughter.’ I finally got interested again when I did a commercial in Singapore and the director told me ‘you have the potential to be an actress.’ I felt good about that.”

They were right, as it turns out.

Calzado has been in the business now for 15 years, a household name since starring in some of the biggest teleseryes, as well as an award-winning actress in such films as the international remake of Yam Laranas’ “Sigaw.”

Meaningful

“And now I’m hosting an art show. What?!” she laughs. “It’s a little bit funny and at the same time it makes it a little more meaningful for me. There’s so much to learn, so much to explore. I’m learning more with every episode.”

It’s been a busy year for Calzado. She is gearing up for major role in a new teleserye, and has just wrapped filming “Distance,” a Cinemalaya offering helmed by Percy Intalan. She still models occasionally, most recently for an upcoming bridal book, and also participates in a women’s empowerment group.

On top of that, she’s saving up for her upcoming wedding later this year to her beau, Filipino-British tech entrepreneur Ben Wintle.

“I’m saving up not for the wedding, but for the marriage, which is the more important thing,” she says.

Calzado has also started her own art collection.

Her first purchase was a photograph by the controversial Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, best known for erotic portraits of women in bondage.

“I saw it at the art fair and I really got into it,” she says. “It shows a pregnant woman, bound, and next to her is a dead plant—it’s life and death. There’s a little darkness to the feel of my collection. Not blatant darkness. I have a Martin Honasan, which I love, and I have one Dex Fernandez, which is very, very happy—a self-portrait which I quite like.”

Pride of place still belongs to BenCab’s charcoal portrait of her.

“It would be a dream to be properly painted,” she says (to which the National Artist reportedly replied, “Basta nude.”) “But even with that sketch, I was Sabel. That is such an honor.”

It’s a very personal collection, reflecting her tastes as they develop, “as life goes by, with time.”