Lawyer Emil Marañon III shared the story of his law office’s connection to new National Artist for Visual Arts Nunelucio Alvarado as they congratulated him on this honor.
In a Facebook post, Marañon said Alvarado’s work “Ang Mal-am sa Kampo sang Tubo” has been a fixture and a “good luck charm” of his law office TAM Law since it opened in 2018.
Marañon said he has long wanted a work from fellow Ilonggo Alvarado and commissioned the painting in 2013 for his social realism art collection.
He said that when he commissioned the work, he wanted something that reflected Alvarado’s “sacada” works from the 1980s.
But at that time, Alvarado had moved on to a different theme and style.
“So asking him to revisit an old version of him was a big a favor, but I was grateful that he agreed, and made me this work,” he said.
He and TAM Law congratulated Alvarado on being named National Artist and thanked him for being part of their journey.
“So, in behalf of #TAMLaw, we send Sir Nune our warmest greetings for his well-deserved elevation as a National Artist! Thank you for being part of our law firm’s journey,” he said.