Lito Mayo

"Toto" as known to friends and family, was born Manolito Tolentino Mayo on December 17, 1954 in Lipa City, Batangas, the eldest son and second child, of banker and entrepreneur Sebastian Mayo and Belen Tolentino Mayo, a teacher and homemaker. He was born into one of the oldest and historic clans of Lipa City.[3] The Mayo clan of Lipa City has claimed and has documented their roots from Spanish, Chinese, and Irish-British[4] ancestry

Lito Mayo has six other siblings- Nelson Mayo (businessman), Merle Laquian (artist), Zaide Manes (homemaker), and Nancy Rabena (educator), Elvira Milo and Abeth Garcia (both medical doctors). His father was an employee at the Philippine National Bank branch of Lipa City who had retired early to establish The Lipa Trading Company, a multifaceted family business that included insurance, financing, real estate, agriculture, tax preparation and a Suzuki motorcycle dealership and tricycle shop. For his primary education, Mayo attended OLRA (Our Lady of Rosary-Batch 1968. Furthermore, he studied at De La Salle Lipa, one of the local high schools that was established by the Lasallian Brothers.

Then, just barely 17 years old and barely out of high school, Mayo married Irma Hermano on June 19, 1971. The bride was the daughter of Porfirio and Pacita Hermano who owned and operated D'Crowns Tailoring, an establishment that served the uniforms and flight suits need of the military student aviators and officers inside Fernando Air Base. The couple had two sons. Michelangelo Mayo was born on December 11, 1971 and Leonardo Mayo on June 15, 1977. He would later have a two-man show with his son Michelangelo (at age 7) in celebration of The International Year of the Child.

Eventually, in 1971, Mayo was admitted to the University of Santo Tomas-College of Architecture and Fine Arts.He won several major competitions while in the University of Santo Tomas, including the 1973 Sculpture and Graphics Awards, 1977 AAP Graphic Arts Competition,[5] and the 1980 Critic's Choice Awards for Graphic Arts. He was believed to be the very first punk in the Philippines, through his hairstyle, looks, lifestyle and his artworks. He also actively supported the alternative music in the mid-1970s.

His early work in college was heavily inspired by Cubism, wood print blocks and sculptures. Mayo established himself in graphic arts, with print plate etching as his major technique. Intaglio, xerographics, and silkscreen processes were also incorporated into his early works. Business Day writer Angel G. De Jesus wrote that Mayo was 'a surrealistic expressionist with a satiric sense of humor.'[6]

Mayo's subjects and compositions usually embodied magical themes, amulets, animal people, and subconscious wanderings. In his work Pula Puti, he depicted a cockfight scene with two roosters having muscular human forms readying for a gladiatorial fight. His self portrait ("Self-Portrait ,1981), a work in etching, has many incantations, mytical orations, and ancient figures adorning his shroud and countenance.

Mayo was indirectly involved in political activities during the Martial law in the Philippines. He supported and nurtured his fellow artists' livelihood through printmaking.[7] Butch Dalisay who served as vice president of Philippine Association of Printmakers under the presidency of Mayo and Orlando "Orly" Castillo were close associates and art collaborators.[8] Both men were also incarcerated under the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. In 1973, Butch Dalisay was just an 18 years old college student when he was detained in Fort Bonifacio military complex (now known at present as Bonifacio Global City). As a fledgling reporter for Philippines Herald and Taliba, he was interrogated and "beaten-up" by the military. He was a suspected insurrectionist along with political prisoners like (later post-Marcos regime government officials) Jojo Binay (Vice president of Benigno Aquino III, former Senator Orlando Mercado, and historian Zeus Salazar. Orlando "Ka Orly" Castillo, on the other hand, was a fellow alumnus of Mayo at the University of Santo Tomas. As a student of the UST, he started his activism as a part of the "Filipinization" movement, an initiative to remove the involvement of Spanish friars in the university. Furthermore, he pursued representation of College of Fine Arts in the college student council, organizing boycotts and creating referendums that was supported by at least 2,500 art students.[9] Moreover, Orly Castillo along with Ber Silva were both of the early members of Kabataang Makabayan (KM), an underground youth socialist group. Ber Silva would become a victim of extra-judicial killings under martial law; his murdered body with bullets in the head was discovered in Montalban (presently Rodriguez,Rizal).[9] This period in the first quarter of the 1970s decade would be referred as First Quarter Storm. It was a time of demonstrations, protests, and great civil unrest.

In September 2018, the well-respected print maker and influential artist, Virgilio "Pandy" Aviado was awarded the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi, a prestigious "Filipino Cultural" award from Ateneo De Manila University. He dedicated his achievement to many great artists who had passed on. He included Mayo in his closing[10]

1973 1st Honorable Mention, UST Sculpture Contest, Manila 3rd Prize, Graphic Arts, UST, Manila 3rd Honorable Mention, Graphic Arts Competition, UST, Manila

1974 Honorable Mention, UST Annual On-The-Spot Painting Contest, Manila

1975 2nd Prize (Mixed Media Category), Print Competition, Sponsored by Bancom, Eurasia Arts, and PAP, Manila

1976 First Runner Up (Grand Art Competition Sponsored by Art Association of the Philippines [AAP] ), Manila First Prize (Graphic Arts) AAP, Manila

1977 Honorable Mention (Graphic Arts) AAP, Manila

• List of awards from: Mayo, Lito. Curriculum vitae. [1981].[11]

October 17 - 30, 2015 - Hiraya Gallery- 35th Anniversary Exhibition, ArtistSpace, Ayala Museum[12]

Ateneo Art Gallery[13]

• Temptation, 6/10 (1974) - Etching - 32 cm x 27.5 cm (Gift from Emmanuel Torres)
• Untitled (1975) - Etching and aquatint - 20.5 cm x 20.5 cm (Gift from Mayo)

The Ateneo Art Gallery presents Print(Ed): The AAG Print Collection Revisited[14]-Selected works from Wilson L Sy Prints and Drawings Gallery collection, curated by Pandy Aviado

• 
  Gemini, 1982
• 
  Self-Portrait of Lito Mayo, 1981
• 
  Temptation, 1976
• 
  Mukha Ethnic (Ethnic Face), 1976
• 
  Mukha, 1976
• 
  Maskara 2, 1976
• 
  Insekto, 1976

In December 2017, coinciding with Mayo's 63rd birth date, Artes de las Filipinas published “Lito Mayo's Alternate Reality". It was a short biographical and art retrospective article about the artists. Several of his rare works were featured as well as some archived photos that was never published before.[11]

Mayo shared close friendships with many musicians and activists. He was close to Heber Bartolome of Banyuhay whom he made "godfather"[15] to his youngest son, Leonardo Mayo. He was also close to Heber Bartolome's partner, the scholar-beauty queen turned activist, Maita Gomez. She was one of the co-founders of GABRIELA (General Assembly Binding Women for Reforms, Integrity, Equality, Leadership, and Action) and WOMB Women for the Ouster of Marcos and Boycott).[16]

Mayo was regarded as the progenitor of punk culture and movement in the Philippines.[17] He has infused art and punk as a subculture and has influenced many young artists and musicians to explore the subversion and excitement of the genre. Bobby Balingit of the Philippine punk pioneers - "The Wuds" was interviewed in "The Violent Dispersal" an online dialogue for arts, culture, and society in the Philippines.[2] He recalled "hanging" out with Mayo during his days as a resident artist in the Printmaker's Association and acknowledged his influence on his music and artistic direction. Moreover, Bobby Balingit also mentioned about playing his early gigs during one of Mayo's exhibitions in the Print's Gallery of the Philippine Printmakers Association. From the same interview, He had revealed also that their band considered making the artist as their manager but was never materialized because of the artist's early demise.

Few of Mayo's works have been seen in art markets still. Three pieces of artworks were reported to have been sold in auctions. In 2018, Saucedo auction house sold a small untitled work from the "Anting-anting (Amulets)" series.[18]