Sydney’s Alfredo ‘Ding’ Roces:Pamana ng Pilipino 2014 awardee

By Titus Filio
Ang Kalatas –December 2014 issue
Emailed for posting by Jaime K. Pimentel
Sydney-Australia
December 5, 2014



“This award is special to me because it bridges both my life in Australia and the Philippines,” Mr. Roces says in a recent chat with AK.

“I am grateful for the recognition the Philippine government and Filipino people are now giving to those of us who find ourselves laboring outside our native homeland, but whose hearts are forever Filipino.”

Forty years in Australia but Ding has indeed remained the true Pinoy. His works manifest love of country and a love of humanity. For him, the world is an art where in every corner lies beauty waiting to be appreciated. One only has to look at it – and maybe capture it.

“Every day I walk with my camera to photograph what is around me,” he says.

Y es, he is always ready to explore and loves to get busy in his studio at his home in Davidson, NSW. A normal break would be a once- a-week Tai Chi class for his well-being, quite a routine he does “para hindi kalawa- ngin”, as he says in jest.

Having retired a decade ago from an eight-to-five work, Ding has not ran short of pursuits, his passion is still in writing and visual arts and “depending on the op- portunities and inspiration that come my way.”

Only recently he completed a commissioned book, one that piles up to already over a dozen under his authorship. Still there are three books in the works and more artistic endeavours. And experiments.

“I have just completed a commissioned book on the life and work of Lourdes Reyes Montinola, Chair of Far Eastern University (1989 to 2013). In the fire are three book projects and at the same time I have been experimenting with assemblage work on my paintings and with ceramic art,” he says.

A blogger and a Facebook regular, the ever-curious Mang Ding is also busy working with technology-driven artistic platforms and he’s turning out to be good at it. The iPad has become a canvas for him as he dabbles in Dig- ital Art.

“I am still low-tech,” Mr. Roces laughs when asked how far he has gone with his gad- get.

ART media always interests me and
how these new
media generate new expressions. The
iPad is an interesting example: you can reduce or enlarge your final work on paper or canvas to incredible scale in effect altering your work. You can reproduce the work limitlessly and send it around the world in seconds," he says.

“You can "undo" or erase your work in progress, you can "blow up" or magnify the area you want to detail, you can work in layers and replicate; and take one visual idea in various direction. But it requires learning and practice. There is the frustration but also the excite- ment of triumph over chaos.”

Mr Roces left the Philippines for Austra- lia in 1976 during those dark martial law days. Back then he was already a prolific writer, a recipient of various art awards. Earlier in 1961, he was a recipient of the prestigious TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men) awards. He wrote for the Manila Times until 1972.

In Australia he served as editor of Geo Australasia Magazine for over a decade. He has done over 35 one-man shows in the Philippines and Australia. He is the consummate artist who makes a mark and leaves his artistic print wherever he goes.

In New South Wales, one of his outstanding works include a land art work where he ‘reintroduced’ the sari manok in a collaboration with Aboriginal artist Kevin Duncan in 2009.

Already successful, he keeps moving on with the grace and humility of a great artist worthy of a ‘Pamana’.

Featured in the ‘Portraits of Success’ book by Mon Coloma released early this year, Mr. Roces says he is only duty-bound to make the best of his talents and the opportunities that come his way.

“Success is fulfilling one’s potential to the fullest no matter how modest that is. I have never consciously sought out the many blessings that have come my way; a Divine Hand provided the opportunities and I simply tried to make the most of these.”