CASAS, Charlie

Charlie Casas was born in Balut, Tondo in 1963 and graduated from Valenzuela High School. He is the grandson of British chief petty officer Charles James Bates, who came to the Philippines and married a Filipina. His late father was guerilla fighter Guillermo Bates, and is the youngest brother of artist Jimmy Bates. At the age of 15, he designed t-shirts, cowboy belts and wallets. In 1980, he started to do serious painting. He is known for his neo-relief works of old houses with an antique finish, using a painstaking method of applying plaster of paris.