“Johnny Lazy,” 152.4×121.92cm, mixed media, 2005

Visual artist Carlo Gabuco weaves popular icons such as the Apple, the Big Mac, and Mickey Mouse into his oil images, showing how every Juan digests or turns away from the influences of the every day.

Casa San Miguel’s artist-in-residence, Gabuco labors over his masterpieces amid the ambient sound of violins playing Pachelbel’s “Canon” and Vivaldi’s “Summer” at the Zambales farm where acclaimed violinist Coke Bolipata holds music classes twice weekly.

A finalist in last year’s Philip Morris Arts Competition and the 2002 Metrobank Young Painters Annual Arts Competition, Gabuco expects to complete 12 paintings by October for his first solo show.

Carlo’s “Click on You,” among the artworks exhibited in this summer’s Pundaquit Festival, is a social commentary on how information overload makes us forget the things that really matter.

“Junk Food Group (Food for the War Brain),” 182.8×121.92cm, mixed media, 2006

In the oil painting, the national hero Jose Rizal’s pixelated face juxtaposed with one of Rizal’s Spanish poems torn off from an old textbook speaks volumes, says Gabuco, on how the younger generations have forgotten their roots.

Aside from the Casa San Miguel’s Siemens Hall, Gabuco has previously exhibited with Boston Gallery and Kulay Diwa. This month, he just completed a two-man show, “Second-Hand Smoke,” with Christopher Zamora at the CCP Gallery.

As Casa San Miguel’s resident teacher, Carlo holds art classes for the local Zambalenos, including the children of Aetas and farmers at the Total Rural Development Foundation in Iba.