Mauro Malang Santos (January 20, 1928 – June 10, 2017), commonly known by the

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

Malang, was a Filipino and award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and fine arts painter. As a comics artist he is best known for the series ''Kosme the Cop'', ''Chain Gang Charlie'' and ''Beelzebub''.

Family

Malang was the son of Dan Santos and Juliana Malang. He married Mary San Pedro, with whom he has four children including painters Steve Santos and Soler Santos.

Education

Malang started learning how to draw from Teodoro Buenaventura, a private tutor, when he was ten years old. He studied at the Antonio Regidor Elementary School in 1934, and attended Arellano High School in 1941. For one semester, Malang studied at the College of Fine Arts of the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...

in 1946. He stopped attending formal school at the age of 19 in order to work for the art department of the Manila Chronicle. While with the newspaper, he apprenticed under cartoonist Liborio "Gat" Gatbonton. During 1972, Malang attended art classes at the Otis Art Institute in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, under a three-month scholarship

Career

At the Manila Chronicles, Malang created ''Kosme, the Cop, Retired'' (1947-1965), the country's first English-language daily comic strip, for the

evening edition ''Evening Edition'' is an American weather program broadcast by The Weather Channel. ''Evening Edition'' included multiple hours of programming, cut into by long-form programs such as '' When Weather Changed History'', as well as a repeating over ...

of the newspaper. In 1955, Malang established the ''Bughouse'', a gallery specializing in cartoons. Malang established the gallery together with cartoonist colleagues such as Liborio Gatbonton,

Larry Alcala Lauro "Larry" Zarate Alcala (August 18, 1926 – June 24, 2002) was a well-known editorial cartoonist and illustrator in the Philippines."The hiLARRYous Art of Alcala", by Ruben Defeo, Today (22 August 1995), p. 20"Slices of Larry Alcala" by N ...

, Hugo Yonzon, and Elmer Abustan. In 1966, Malang launched ''Art for the Masses'', a project that brought printmaking to a larger number of artwork enthusiasts at affordable prices.

Awards

In 1957, Philippine Art Gallery founder, Lyd Arguilla, included Malang in the Twelve Artists in the Philippines-Who's Who. In 1958, the Art Directors Guild of the Philippines conferred Malang the Award for Editorial Design. Malang won in competitions sponsored by the Society of Philippine Illustrators and Cartoonists. In 1964, the Society of Philippine Illustrators and Cartoonists named Malang as the Artist of the Year. Malang won awards in the annual art competitions held by the Art Association of the Philippines, namely for his ''Street Fight'' (Second Prize, 1951), ''Traffic'' (Third Prize, 1953), ''The Yellow Sky'' (Honorable Mention, 1959), ''Quarter Moon'' (Second Prize), and ''Gate to Intramuros'' (Honorable Mention, 1963). In 1963, Malang was included among the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines. In 1981, the

City of Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

awarded him the ''Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan'' ("Guide of Arts and Culture") award.

References

External links