For someone who claims to be a casual art collector, this high profile lawyer and father of three has the works of such National Artists as Joya, Alcuaz, Imao, Luz and H.R. Ocampo. The masters’ works speak well of his taste in art–his expressionist nature, impressionist passion and sometimes abstract pursuits. But behind the facade of a dapper dresser with a disarming smile, Mike also betrays his true nature through his cherished collection—that of a tender loving father and a devoted family man.
By Büm Tenorio Jr.
Art, we read somewhere, evokes certain emotions in a man. It makes him happy and contemplative at the same time. It allows him to enter another realm so much different from the corporate world. Art satisfies him to reach the deepest recesses of his creative side. Art makes a man all the more productive at work because, in art, he finds a muse, an inspiration. Art springs eternal for a man who continues to hope and dream.
Lawyer Mike Toledo is all that and more—because art, unwittingly, brings about the tenderness and joy of his being a family man.
“If you notice many of the art pieces I have, there’s a theme. Mother and child. Father and son. Three women,” he says. He did not deliberately curate his collection that way. It just so happened that those who sold him most of the pieces in his now-burgeoning collection offered him themes revolving around family.
“But it is not as if I searched for them. It is not a focused search. Many times, they are offered to me,” he says. Mike attracts what he likes or what is in his heart. He is courted by the things that bring him love. And for a no-nonsense lawyer like Mike, family, bar none, is love.
Mike is unstoppable when he talks about the three women in his life — his wife Connie, their two daughters Nicole and Isabelle— and their son Javi. The walls in their home is a proud gallery of love: of a husband to his wife, of a father to his children. They prove to Mike that home is where the art is.
It’a like being transported to a scene in Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-lighted Place, the minute the door of lawyer Mike’s home opens. But unlike the American writer’s short story filled with life’s meaninglessness and solitude, the Toledo home is anything but that. It’s literally bursting with well-curated colors, and Makati’s afternoon light further brightens up the dwelling place and reveals traces of a life well lived.
By the window is a wooden fish sculpture of National Artist Abdulmari Imao. It invites you to swim into the art world Mike discovered in 1988, when he purchased his very first painting titled “Harana” by Angelito Antonio. He was still connected with the ACCRA Law Office then. (He bought his one and only Imao in an exhibit at Dusit Thani Hotel more than 10 years ago.)
“Don’t get the impression that I am a serious art collector,” begins Mike, who heads the government relations and public affairs division of the MVP Group of Companies conglomerate, specifically the Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC). MPIC owns Meralco, Maynilad, Metro Pacific Tollways, Metro Pacific Hospitals (including Makati Medical Center and Asian Hospital), Light Rail Manila Corp. and Metropac Movers Inc. Mike adds that he also does work for the conglomerate’s First Pacific Company, which covers PLDT, Philex and Philex Petroleum. He has been with the MVP Group for 10 years now.
“I don’t consider myself an art expert,” he says with a hearty chuckle.
But for someone who claims to be casual art collector, Mike has the works of other National Artists. He has a Joya, an Alcuaz, a Luz and a pen-and-ink artwork of H.R. Ocampo. The masters’ works speak well of Mike’s taste in art–the guy’s expressionist nature, his impressionist passion and sometimes abstract pursuits.
“If I were a painting, I would be an abstract work of Alcuaz. People tend to tell me that I am everywhere. I have my job. And I do other things. I am a lawyer. But I also deliver the news. I write a column for The STAR. And I also sing on stage. I am an abstract work of art,” he says.
Kidding aside, he humbly admits that the works of BenCab, Ang Kiukok and Amorsolo are aspirational for him. But the good thing is he knows he will get there.
The walls of his condo unit are also home to other celebrated artists like Malang (he has a few), Oscar de Zalameda, Manny Garibay, Jack Salud, Rodel Tapaya, Ivan Acuña, Arsenio Capili and Eduardo Castrillo. Also hanging on his wall are the works of Jojo Lofranco and Nikki Luna. The works of these artists bring him joy. He is at peace when he narrates how he acquired them—from a friend, from an art show, from a gallery. He frequents galleries from time to time—an exercise that revivifies his spirit and fortifies his soul.
The youthful Mike does not limit himself to the works of the masters and other established artists. He also likes the playfulness of the works of young visual artists like Christian Tamondong and foreign painters like Japanese artist Yasuhiro Hara. The latter is his latest acquisition, though it is still in the gallery where he bought it. His eyes light up in excitement when he anticipates the coming of a Hara to his home.
Mike knows the play of its colors and describes it with familiarity, the way a person knows every line in his palm. He talks of its vibrance and the splurge of its colors on the canvas like the artwork is already hung on the wall. It’s coming. And Mike, like a child unable to temper his excitement, can’t contain his happiness.
“I’ve always been fascinated with art,” says the former spokesperson of then President Joseph Estrada. The photo of his oathtaking with his family in Malacañang is displayed prominently among the artworks in his home.
“Though I love the Louvre, my favorite is still the British Museum because I ‘discovered’ it when I lived in London for a year when I was finishing my Master in International Economic Law at the London School of Economics,” he continues. At the British Museum that time, he was drawn to the Egyptian exhibit of both art and mummies. The sarcophagi are still alive and vivid in his mind.
“But when you are a student, your finances are very limited. I still visited museums and art galleries even with limited resources. I always enjoyed looking at good artworks, either in exhibits or magazines,” he recalls.
Mike believes that when one has an appreciation for the visual arts, one gets lost in the process of ogling at it. But one also finds oneself in art, he adds.
Now that he has the modest means and ample exposure to engage in one of his passions, he will continue to collect artworks. It’s like collecting love that he will give to the loves of his life.
