Contemporary

Philippine Arts From

The Region : Module
3.
 Filipino Contemporary
Artist And Their Famous Work's
 NONA GARCIA
• One of the best-known artists in the Philippine art
scene at the moment.
•Born in 1978 in Manila, she received her Bachelor of
Fine Arts in Painting from the University of the
Philippines.
• She won the Grand Prize in the Philip Morris ASEAN
Art Award (2000), and is also a recipient of the
Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Thirteen
Artists Award (2003).
• Known for employing the use of stark realism to
bring into question what the true meaning of
representation is. Her use of photorealism centers
everyday objects, cultural artifacts, or people, inviting
the viewers to explore the environmental,
sociopolitical, and personal histories of her subjects.
•She also employs the use of paper cutouts, x-rays,
andFalse
• Among her solo shows are lightboxes in her(Singapore,
Apparitions works. 2012), Before the
Sea(Manila, 2012), Unearth (Berlin, 2015), and Before the Sky (Manila, 2016).
Andres Barrioquinto
• The "Dark Man of Philippine Art” due to
his use of the macabre in many of his works.
• Barrioquinto’s work is notable for its use
of comparison and scale. His portraits are
famously a mix of the monochrome and the
technicolor. With his subjects in black and
white framed by an explosion of color, his
paintings assault the senses and leave
viewers reeling. While the mainstream
perspective on art is that it must be
beautiful, Barrioquinto challenges old
perspectives and brings you up close and
personal with the strange and the imperfect.
• One of the CCP’s Thirteen Artists of 2003,
Andres Barrioquinto’s works have also
pulled in huge numbers at auctions in the
Philippines and abroad. His painting Skulls
and Butterflies pulled in HKD 620,000 at an
auction, almost 15 times its asking price.
Leeroy New
• When it comes to the history of Philippine arts
and culture, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more
distinctive style across a variety of mediums than
Leeroy New’s. A native of General Santos City.
• His work has garnered him a number of accolades
and awards, including the 2005 Metrobank Art
Awards, the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards, a nomination
for the 2011 Signature Art Prize in Singapore, the
2012 CCP 13 Artists Award, and the 2014
Metrobank Foundation Award.
• His artwork, including production design, public
art, product design, and wearable art. He’s perhaps
best known for his iconic sculptures, which blend
together a variety of shapes, colors, and forms to
challenge the viewer.
•New’s lifelong fascination with monsters has led
him to create pieces that are out of this world,
making him one of the most prominent names in the
Philippine sculpture and visual arts scenes. • His
work has also been featured in television shows such
 • Luna is a graduate of the University of the
NIKKI LUNA Philippines’ Fine Arts program focusing on
visual art.
• She also received a Chevening Award,
allowing her to take a masters in Art and
Education at the University of London in the
UK. Her work has been exhibited in the CCP,
Vargas Museum, and Lopez Memorial
Museum, among others. In addition, she has
also been featured in the Aichi Triennale,
Singapore Biennale, Beijing Binnale, and Le
Festival International des Textiles Extra
Ordinaires.
• Luna’s work brings together advocacy and
art.Luna’s work is notable for highlighting
issues of women, including the issues of rape,
sexual harassment, domestic workers, and
migrant workers.
•She has conducted various art therapy
workshops in conflict zones in the Philippines,
and uses her work to speak out against social
issues like extrajudicial killings, misogyny, and
RODEL • Rodel Tapaya is one of the top names in
Philippine painting and visual art, and his work
TAPAYA has garnered him critical acclaim both in the
country and abroad.
• Tapaya first broke out into the scene when he
won the Nokia Art Awards in 2001. Won the 2011
Signature Art Prize, was named one of CCP’s 13
Artists of 2012.
• Tapaya’s first solo show outside the country
was in 2008 and was entitled Rodel Tapaya:
Folkgotten.
• Tapaya began to explore the themes of
Philippine mythology and folktales for which
he’s known today. Rodel Tapaya’s artworks and
paintings are notable for their mix of Filipino
folk culture and history, which he uses to offer
commentary on contemporary social issues.
•His complex compositions and use of vivid
colors and patterns have made his work a
favorite of collectors and art enthusiasts.
Ernest
Concepcion • Ernest Concepcion is well known for his
highly complex and experimental paintings,
which play with texture and color to create
images that arrest the viewer’s eyes.
• Born in 1977, he graduated from the
University of the Philippines with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts.
• He has also received the CCP’s 13 Artists
of 2015 award.
• His paintings are abstracted reflections on
Philippine history, social issues, and the
human experience.
•By experimenting with composition, form,
color, and textures, Concepcion’s works
challenge the viewers’ preconceptions of
what is or isn’t possible in art.
ANNIE
CABIGTING • One of this generation of artists’
technical masters, and her work is well-
known both for its adherence to real life
form, and for its ability to challenge the
viewer.
• She graduated from the University of the
Philippines with a Major in Painting in
1994, and has since been exhibited in
dozens of galleries.
• She also won the Ateneo Art Awards in
2005, among others, and her work was
also included in the Prague Biennale.
•Most known for her ability to force her
viewers to question ideas of authorship,
reproduction, and point of view.
Dex Fernandez
• Is a rising name among young artists in the
Philippines.
• Best known for his cartoonish, many-legged
subject “Garapata,” Fernandez’s work is playful
and street-smart, bringing a modern sensibility
to many of Manila’s galleries.
• He studied Fine Arts and Advertising at the
Technological University of the Philippines
before working as a graphic designer.
• He’s had solo exhibitions in the Philippines and
the United States, as well as group exhibitions in
France, Singapore, the United States
• Fernandez’s work makes use of the urban
landscape as a canvas, bringing art out of staid
white galleries and into the daily lives of
commuters.
• His Garapata stickers are a well-known sight
around Manila and even abroad.
 • Oscar Villamiel is a familiar figure in the
Oscar Villamiel Philippine art world, and his primitive,
multi-media installations are both instantly
recognizable and unforgettable.
• Born in 1953 and a graduate of the Fine
Arts Program of University of the East, he
worked as a set designer and entrepreneur
for several decades.
• Villamiel’s work is well-known for its use of
salvaging, with the artist using found
materials or old, recycled parts to create
entirely new works.
•His 2014 installation art about the
Philippines, Mga Damong Ligaw, employed
the use of over 10,000 excised carabao horns
that flowed from the gallery walls onto the
floor. Instead of focusing on prized objects,
his art brings to the foreground discarded
junk and cast-off, ordinary items.
•By doing this, he highlights the stark beauty
that can often be found in these discarded
Geraldine Javier• Geraldine Javier is a Philippine visual
artist whose work foregrounds the tension
between dynamic contrasts.
• Born in 1970, she initially began her career
training to be a nurse before turning to the
arts.
• Javier rose into the spotlight when she
received the CCP’s 13 Artists Award in 2003.
• She first began exhibiting her work
internationally in 2004, and has been
featured in dozens of galleries both in the
Philippines and abroad.
• Her work emphasizes complexity, both of
subject matter and form. In addition to
iconography from her Roman Catholic
upbringing, she also touches on the concepts
of death, emotional violence, relationships,
and social tensions. Rather than touching on
the social realism and political commentary
Ronald Ventura • Ronald Ventura has been hailed as one of the
most distinctive and unique artistic voices of his
generation.
• Born in 1973 and educated at the University of
Santo Tomas in Manila, he’s been multi-awarded
since his student days. As an undergraduate, he
won the longest-running student art competition
sponsored by Shell Corporation in 1990.
• His first two solo shows were in 2000, and he
has since been exhibited in the Philippines, Asia,
and in Europe and the United States. Among his
many awards are the 13 Artists Award of 2003
by the CCP, and the Ateneo Art Award in 2005.
• Ronald Ventura’s artworks are known for
combining a variety of different media, and he
explores new themes,materials, and concepts in
his work. Known for his work surrounding the
human form.
• By layering usually separate styles— such as
graffiti, cartoons, and photorealism— he
Gary-Ross
Pastrana • Gary-Ross Pastrana’s distinctive, conceptual
works makes him a stand-out in a country rich
with artistic talent.
• He received his bachelor’s degree in painting
from the University of the Philippines’ College
of Fine Arts, where he was awarded the
Dominador Castañeda Award for Best Thesis.
Subsequently, he was granted residences in
Japan and Bangkok.
•He received the CCP’s 13 Artists Award in
2006, and has since been exhibited in shows
both local and abroad. He is also one of the co-
founders of the Future Prospects Art Space in
Cubao, Philippines.
• Pastrana’s work is known for combining
concepts with context in subtle, poetic ways.
• In one exhibit in 2018, Pastrana turned to the
“forgotten” objects in the house, highlighting
them and inviting viewers to explore their
Benedicto
Cabrera • Benedicto Cabrera, more popularly known as
BenCab, has been hailed as one of the most
iconic artists of his generation.
• Awarded the National Artist of the Philippines
for Visual Arts (Painting) Award in 2006, he is
arguably one of the best-selling artists in the
country, with the BenCab museum in Baguio
City dedicated to his works.
• He studied in the University of the Philippines
before exploring a career in art circles in
London.
• Benedicto Cabrera’s artworks are notable for
his mastery of a variety of different media,
including printmaking, painting, photography,
and draftsmanship. In particular, he is known
for his series of works centering around his
muse “Sabel,” inspired by a scavenger woman
whom he photographed and sketched in 1965.
•Benedicto Cabrera’s paintings are primarily
figurative, focusing on the female subject, and
occasionally men, wrapped in swirling fabrics.
His subjects are often dressed in Filipiniana,
Agnes • Perhaps one of the greatest Philippine sculptors of
Arellano her generation.
• Before delving into art, Arellano first went down a
more science-oriented track, pursuing a Bachelor of
Arts in Psychology and units in a Master of Arts in
the same field. She finally took a Major in Sculpture
from the College of Fine Arts, University of the
Philippines.
• Arellano’s sculptures are distinctive not only for
their mastery of the female form, but for their
harrowing, sometimes grotesque, and always
unforgettable subject matter.
• Much of her career has been shaped by the tragic
death of her family in a fire in 1981, and many of her
works commemorate this event.
• Arellano is known for her focus on the female body
using a variety of different sculptural materials,
including casts of her own body. She calls her
sculptures “inscapes,” where she invites the viewers
to walk in and explore the core of their meaning.
Kiko Escora • Also Aknown as “Manila Animal”, is a
prolific, chameleon-like artist whose work
changes with every exhibition.
• Born in 1970, his fascination with art
began as a child, when his father
introduced him to the color wheel and
taught him to match each color with a song.
• Awarded the prestigious 13 Artists Award
by the CCP in 2003.
• Kiko Escora’s work is known for the
negotiation between the themes of intimacy
and violence. His portraits, often
foregrounding the subjects in stark lighting,
invite a level of scrutiny on the part of the
viewer that feels both familiar and invasive
all at once. His subjects often have a
particularly unnerving energy, with
expressions and attitudes that turn the
Yasmin Sison-Ching
• Yasmin Sison-Ching is a Filipina visual
artist.
• Born in 1972 in Cavite, she took up a
degree in Humanities and Fine Arts and
graduated from the University of the
Philippines, later taking a second degree in
Painting from 1994-1997 and a Masters in
Art Education in 2001.
• Sison-Ching’s early work centered on
abstract expressionism. Her gestural
paintings included bright splashes of color
and expressionist figures that lacked both
form and identity. She then moved on to
representational imagery, distinctive for her
unflinching portrayal of her subjects. In
particular, her series on children in all their
moods showed her skill at drawing out the
emotions of her subjects. This
perceptiveness and connection with viewers
have made her a standout in the Philippine
art scene, and a favorite among collectors.
Neil Pasilan • Neil Pasilan is a self-taught, multi-media
artist from Bacolod.
• Born in 1971 and brother to fellow artist
Diokno Pasilan, he displayed creativity at an
early age. In his youth, he modeled figures in
clay before moving on to other forms and
media.
• Pasilan’s work is known for its use of
multiple layers and media, utilizing these
different strata to expose or sometimes mask
different forms and subjects. He has described
himself as being most at ease when he is being
true to himself as an artist. Subsequently,
many of his works include family members
and other personal relationships. Pasilan’s
work is distinctive for its hazy yet emotion-
filled approach to form, creating emotion
through abstraction where the viewer would
initially assume there was none to be found.
Kawayan de Guia • Kawayan de Guia is a growing name
within the Philippine art world, and with
good reason. The son of filmmaker Kidlat
Tahimik and German artist Katrin de Guia,
he was mentored by BenCab and Santiago
Bose in his early years.
• In 2011, he helmed the Ax(iS) Art Project
to promote the local artist community in
Baguio City and the rest of the Cordilleras.
• De Guia’s work is notable for his seemingly
disjointed associations of different
images and forms. His collages play with
concepts that are often difficult to pair, such
as religion and consumerism, in collages that
play with both shape and color. By placing
these outwardly disparate concepts together,
he invites the viewer to construct their own
meaning of their relationships. The chaotic
landscapes of his artworks also invite the
viewer to explore feelings of discontent and
disarticulation, and leave them with
lingering feelings of restlessness long after
they’ve left.
Mark Salvatus
• Mark Salvatus is an intermedia artist who
has been slowly but surely rising in
prominence in the Philippine art scene.
• Born in 1980 and educated at the
University of Santo Tomas College of Fine
Arts & Design, he won the Ateneo Art
Awards in 2010, and was named as one of the
CCP’s 13 Artists of 2012. In subsequent
years, he has won residency grants and
fellowships to Sweden, Japan, and the
Netherlands.
• Mark Salvatus calls his artworks “Salvage
Projects,” and he is preoccupied with the
idea of movements and transitions from one
place or state of being to another. His work
discusses urbanization and the
socioeconomic structure that surrounds it,
especially in Metro Manila.
Patricia Perez Eustaquio
• Patricia Perez Eustaquio has been
hailed as one of the foremost artists of
her generation.
• Born in 1977, she received the 13 Artists
Award from the CCP in 2010, and has
been awarded several prestigious
residencies.
•Eustaquio’s work is concerned with the
idea of vanity, focusing on materials and
structures that are carefully created and
staged. Much of her work involves the
materials of craft, including fabric,
leather, lace, ceramic, and upholstery—
either handmade or industrial. Hailed by
critics as a multifaceted talent, Eustaquio
is able to invite viewers to interrogate
both the artwork and the process by
which the artwork is constructed.
Detritus is framed within the structures
of craft and fashion, creating a dynamic
that begs reflection and discussion.
Martha
Atienza • Martha Atienza was born to a Filipino father and
Dutch mother, and this shuttling between two
cultures has been at the forefront of her creative
work.
• She finished a bachelor’s degree in Mixed Media
and Media Art at the Aki Academy of Visual Arts
and Design in the Netherlands.
• She received accolade after accolade in her decade
of work. Among these are the CCP’s 2015 13
Artists Award, the New Media Fund from the
NCCA, the 2012 Ateneo Art Awards, and
residencies in Singapore, Australia, the United
States, the UK, and the Philippines.
• Martha Atienza’s work is primarily expressed
through video installation.
• Using the concept of a “stranger” to guide her
hand, her work toes the line between imagination
and understanding.
Hannah • As the daughter of Filipino ceramicisists
Jon and Tessy Pettyjohn, it’s no wonder
PETTYJOHN that Hannah Pettyjohn grew up to pursue
a career in the arts.
• Born in 1983 and now based in Dallas in
the United States, Pettyjohn graduated
from the University of the Philippines
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting.
• Pettyjohn’s work seems to focus on the
meeting and discussion between two
worlds.
•Her paintings are often accompanied by
sculptural works, and fragments of
memory and autobiographical tidbits
make up much of her artwork.
• With themes of impermanence,
loneliness, anxiety, and aimlessness, her
work speaks to a new generation of
individuals who feel untethered to their
own histories and societies.
Pope Bacay • A native of Oriental Mindoro, Pope
Bacay is quickly rising to become one
of the most well-known young artists
in the country.
• Having graduated from the Studio
Arts program of the University of the
Philippines in only 2016, he’s quickly
begun to make waves in the local art
scene in the Philippines.
• Bacay’s work draws on the sense of
place, capturing scenes from his life in
his hometown of Roxas. Framing the
everyday and familiar within
architectural structures, he
emphasizes the role of these structures
in capturing and maintaining our
memories.
David Medalla • David Medalla is one of the greats of
Philippine contemporary art.
• Born in Manila in 1942, he was admitted
to Columbia University in New York at the
young age of 14 upon the recommendation
of American poet Mark van Doren.
• Medalla’s influence on Philippine
contemporary art is undeniable. He has
experimented with a variety of forms and
materials, never once shying away from the
challenge to viewers and observers. He
creates artwork that allows all the body’s
senses to engage with it, once even creating
a piece that would release scent pellets of
his then-boyfriend’s smell when he
undressed after coming home from work.
His creativity, eloquence, and genius are
undeniable, and luckily for Philippine art
he still has more to give.