A young portrait artist expressed disappointment after an adult client allegedly burned his artwork and initially refused to pay him since the latter thought it was not good enough.
Isabela-based artist Edmar Casinillo on Tuesday, May 30, shared a screengrab of a conversation with his client who told him that she “burned” his oil painting he had worked on for two months.
The artwork featured a 14-member family.
“[Ang sakit] lang na sinunog ‘yung 14-heads oil paint ko, sana binalik niyo [na lang] po Ma’am, kung ‘di niyo po nagustuhan,” he said on Facebook.
The young artist was surprised to learn that the client allegedly burned the artwork out of frustration as she thought it was not good enough.
“[Wala] akong maibabayad [sa’yo], [sensya ka na],” she said in their conversation.
“Nahihiya ako sa Mama ko, [‘di] maganda [‘yung] paggawa mo, sorry,” the client added.
“[‘Di] ko maidisplay, nakakahiya. Akala ko nga [wala na] e, dahil sa inis ko, [‘yun], sinunog ko,” she continued.
In the comments section, Casinillo expressed sadness at the client’s supposed action, saying he hoped the artwork could’ve been placed in an exhibit instead.
“Kasi effort ko rin [naman] eh,” he added in another comment.
Casinillo also explained that the price he gave her was already “affordable.”
“Mura lang din bigay ko [kasi] nga [walang] ibang tumatanggap sa [kanya] kasi ‘di kaya ng budget niya ‘yung mga price ng [ibang] artist po, kaya naawa ako and tinanggap ko [na lang],” he said in response to a Pinoy in the comments.
According to Inquirer.net, the artwork’s initial price was P10,000 but the client requested that it be sold at P8,000 instead, which Casinillo accepted.
The news outlet said he “has tried to reach out to the client” hours after his Facebook post, “asking her to pay him back at least 3,000 pesos to make up for the cost of materials.”
The client, according to Casinillo, has only paid P2,000 so far.
In his interview with the news outlet, he said he has been a portrait artist since eighth grade.
Casinillo, now an architecture student, said he accepts painting commissions to help fund his studies.
He has accepted commission requests from multiple clients before, but said it was the first time he had encountered someone who refused to pay him.
Earlier this month, another artist from Rizal encountered a commission-related problem when he was asked to draw a portrait out of a selfie.
The client initially wondered if she needed to pay and sent him a Bible verse with the comment: “Nak, [huwag] mong hayaang isangla ang kaluluwa [mo kay] Satanas [para lang] sa kapirasong pera.”
The Rizal-based artist said that he posted snippets of the conversation online to make them “aware” that artists do not work for free.
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