A masterpiece of kindness
This year may be considered annus horribilis for physician/art collector turned artist Orestes “Resty” P. Monzon. On a routine abdominal ultrasound procedure without any symptoms at all, a mass in his pancreas was found. He was confined for some procedures, and finally, an ultrasound-guided biopsy revealed suspicious intraductal pancreatic cancer.
After a thorough discussion with his attending physician, they decided that it would be best to remove the pancreas early as his tumor markers were rising. They scheduled the operation at Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) last March 25, which went along fine with no complications. He was discharged a week later.
His second confinement at CSMC a month later was serious. “I was dehydrated, hypotensive, and lost weight immensely. I thought I would go,” he says. He had an epiphany and decided to let go. He thought of donating his art collection to CSMC.
Monzon is a member of the Board of Radiologic Technology of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) for more than 20 years now. He has retired from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Philippine Heart Center, but still has limited practice at UST Hospital and CSMC.
He started collecting artworks while still a medical student at UST from 1964 to 1972. He recalls going to art galleries, museums, and theaters with some of his classmates after their exams. That was how he started appreciating art. They would discuss their favorite paintings over coffee.
“Galleries offer payment by installment and I would save my meager allowance to be able to pay for a painting I liked,” he recalls.
Weekend photographer
His interest in art was further heightened when he got a fellowship for nuclear medicine at the University of Bonn in Germany, in 1978 to 1979. Weekends would find him in museums, where he came to love the Impressionists like Renoir, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, and Mary Cassatt, as well as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Andrew Wyeth.
It was also during those weekends when he would indulge himself in his love for photography. Armed with an old Minolta camera, his feet would bring him to flea markets, train stations, public squares, churches, theaters, and museums to take photos. The defective gizmo would be replaced much later by a Kodak easy-share camera, the precursor of the digital camera, in the early 2000s.
His first exhibit of photographs and radiography photo experiments was held in 1974. It would take three decades before he would have another exhibit of his photographs. “Ordinary Photographs,” “Some People, Some Photographs,” “Windows, Doors, Narrow Streets I & II” are just four of his solo photo exhibits.
In 2011, he collaborated with Tanay nature artist Angelito “Jo” Florendo for an exhibit, “Feeding Doves.” Florendo selected photographs from the doctor’s cache and rendered them into paintings.
After retiring from teaching in 2012 at 65, the indefatigable doctor discovered a new window of opportunity: He discovered that he could paint. Thanks to his mentors—Fernando Sena, Florendo, and Joel Jane—in two years’ time, he had two exhibits with Florendo. At the same time, he participated in eight group shows, including one of artist-doctors and medical allied professionals called “Art Beat.”
On his 70th birthday, he had his first solo show at the Philippine Heart Center titled “A Tiny Seed Becomes a Lovely Tree.” About that landmark exhibit, Monzon says: “My life as an artist began with a fascination with trees. My physician’s eye makes me see details, colors, and style to represent life and its blessings as well as its difficulties.”
Generosity
The good doctor also organized a painting group in 2015 with art-loving neighbors and artists. “Ordinary Artists” is a parish-based group giving free art lessons to persons with disabilities, the hearing impaired, senior citizens, children, and everyday people. Ordinary artists view life as a gift, and so do they view art and creativity. Their art exhibit, “Iba’t Ibang Kulay ng Buhay,” was able to contribute to the construction of the parish church.
Monzon never tires. In January 2016, he created a Facebook site for art discussions and appreciation of the arts in all its forms. Called AA-Appreciating Arts, the group now has thousands of followers from the Philippines to North America, Europe, Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Asia.
The physician-artist’s generosity knows no bounds. He has been supporting charities and art groups by organizing fund-raising activities. One such beneficiary is Kammerchor Manila under the helm of Anthony Go Villanueva. The parish-based choir has won top prizes in European music competitions, the latest of which was the Luciano Pavarotti Grand Prize (Choir of the World award) at the 2023 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod Competition in UK.
Another beneficiary is the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation Inc. where he is a trustee. He has organized a fund-raising raffle twice to support the Foundation’s Maningning Poetry and Art Awards.
And now, Monzon, with the blessing of his wife Dr. Edna Garayblas-Monzon and their children, has turned over to CSMC through the office of Cardinal Medical Charities Foundation Inc. his collection of 105 art photographs and paintings—a magnificent donation given on the golden anniversary of CSMC.
Monzon feels that he is now at a stage where an institution can take better care of the collection than he can. He also wishes that the paintings be seen, appreciated, and enjoyed by the public.
What a grand gesture! Monzon apparently took to heart what Maya Angelou said: “The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and humor and style and generosity and kindness.”
