For nearly five decades, Antonio Tejado has explored different artistic styles, techniques and subjects. Now, as he prepares to close a significant chapter of his career, the veteran Negrense artist and longtime La Consolacion College Bacolod educator turns his attention to the sugarcane workers whose labor has helped shape the history and identity of Negros.
Tejado will open his seventh and, according to the artist, final solo exhibition, “Sakada,” at The Negros Museum on Saturday, Oct. 17, presenting a collection of oil paintings that examine the struggles, resilience and aspirations of seasonal sugarcane plantation workers.
The exhibition, which runs until Jan. 29, 2027, brings together the artistic influences Tejado has cultivated since graduating from the University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture and Fine Arts in 1977 — a journey that will reach its 50th year in 2027.
But beyond marking a personal milestone, the exhibition offers a reflection on the people behind an industry that has defined the economic and social landscape of Negros for generations.
𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲
Unlike conventional depictions of sakadas engaged in physically demanding plantation work, many of Tejado’s paintings capture workers in moments of quiet contemplation.
Some are resting after hours of labor. Others appear absorbed in their own thoughts, their subdued expressions suggesting lives shaped by hardship, uncertainty and aspirations that extend beyond the sugarcane fields.
Tejado described his subjects as people contemplating life’s adversities, emphasizing that their experiences are expressed not through dramatic gestures but through their quiet presence.
The approach gives the workers an individual humanity that can be obscured by broader narratives about sugar production and the plantation economy.
Art writer Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol, in his exhibition notes, observes that the collection reflects Tejado’s synthesis of classical realism and modernist aesthetics.
The artist renders his human figures with techniques grounded in academic realism, while simplified geometric backgrounds and pastel-colored planes reveal the modernist influences he developed throughout his career.
The resulting compositions place the workers at the center of the visual narrative, drawing attention to their circumstances rather than merely documenting their labor.
𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭
The exhibition’s centerpiece, “Sakada: Bloody Toil,” is a 4-by-6-foot oil painting that confronts the difficult history of sugar production in Negros.
Described by Mirasol as the exhibition’s *pièce de résistance*, the work employs a predominantly sepia palette to evoke memories of an era when sugarcane workers became symbols of exploitation, economic inequality and frustrated hopes.
The painting reflects on the contrast between the prosperity historically associated with the sugar industry and the sacrifices of the laborers who sustained it.
For Tejado, the work also acknowledges that although the industry’s so-called golden age has been fading from collective memory, sakadas remain essential to sugar production.
Another painting, “Sakada Magallon,” shifts the narrative from historical hardship to contemporary aspirations.
The work depicts a plantation worker contemplating the possibility of leaving behind life in the sugar fields to seek employment overseas.
A mirror-like opening in the composition becomes a symbolic passage toward another life, representing the hope of becoming an overseas Filipino worker.
Mirasol identifies the painting’s surrealist element as a departure from the otherwise restrained atmosphere of the collection.
Together, the works connect the historical experience of plantation labor with present-day questions of economic mobility, migration and the search for better opportunities.
𝐀 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
The exhibition also brings renewed attention to Tejado’s contribution to art education in Bacolod.
After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, major in painting, from UST, Tejado joined the faculty of La Consolacion College Bacolod, where he taught for 43 years.
He served as head of the college’s Fine Arts program under the ARFIEN Department from 1990 to 2016, helping mentor generations of aspiring artists and creative professionals.
Tejado also earned his Master of Business Administration from LCC Bacolod and his doctorate from Carlos Hilado Memorial State College.
His years in the academe coincided with an extensive period of artistic experimentation, producing not only easel paintings and commissioned murals but also sculptures and stained-glass works.
His early paintings demonstrated a command of classical realistic techniques, but exposure to modernist approaches during his university years expanded his visual language.
Among his influences were UST professors Angelito Antonio, known for his quasi-cubist compositions, and Cenon Rivera, whose works reflected an emphasis on linear structures reminiscent of stained glass.
By his second solo exhibition at the Holiday Inn Manila’s Galleries of Fine Arts in 1982, Tejado had embraced more simplified forms, distorted figuration and modernist compositions.
These influences remain visible in “Sakada,” which Mirasol characterizes as a synthesis of the artistic approaches Tejado has explored over the decades.
𝐀 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
While the exhibition marks the culmination of Tejado’s long career as a professional artist, it also raises questions about the enduring significance of art and the legacy an artist leaves behind.
In his exhibition notes, Mirasol writes that Tejado hopes the collection will offer viewers an understanding of his identity as both an artist and educator, allowing them to assess the significance of his contributions to Philippine art.
That reflection carries particular weight for an artist who has spent much of his professional life teaching younger generations to develop their own visual language.
With “Sakada,” Tejado brings that artistic journey full circle, combining the technical discipline of his early training, the experimentation of his modernist years and a continuing engagement with the social realities of Negros.
As his final solo exhibition, the collection is both a retrospective statement about his evolution as an artist and a tribute to workers whose stories remain inseparable from the island’s history.
And in giving the sakadas a place on his canvases, Tejado leaves viewers with a reminder that behind the wealth, history and changing fortunes of the sugar industry are individuals whose struggles, dignity and dreams deserve to be seen.
“𝐒𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐚,” 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐨 𝐓𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐝𝐨, 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐭 4 𝐩.𝐦. 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐎𝐜𝐭. 17, 𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐬 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐝 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐉𝐚𝐧. 29, 2027.
𝘽𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙝𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙙𝙤 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩.