National Artist for Visual Arts (2014)
(January 29, 1919 – September 1, 1998)
Francisco Coching had a holistic approach in his art practice by illustrating his comics while writing their storylines. Thus, he had a full grasp of the creative endeavor of comics, controlling each aspect of the narrative and stamping his own identity in his body of work. Coching elevated comics as an artform by offering his readers a fresh take on the Filipino way of life. His characters on paper are empowered by their imperfections by drawing on human nature not usually explored in popular literature. His visuals capture nuances of each persona, attesting to his mastery of the human form and its microexpressions. Moreover, his historical stories combined with fiction provokes a lot of thought into the complexities of conflict and how each scene culminates to a window of the Filipino psyche.