Ronald Ventura

Born 1972 in Manila, Philippines
Lives and works in Manila, Philippines

For many years, Ronald Ventura has produced artworks that attest to the powerful force of imagination when intertwined with the intricacies of history, the ambiguities of nature, and the arbitrariness of contemporary culture. Humans, unicorns and angels, toy figures and animals, skulls and images from popular culture, protagonists from Christian iconography: these may be inhabitants of very different worlds, yet Ventura’s paintings allow them to come together in a bizarre union. Brought together erratically they transform each other in their claim for a new grotesque reality. It is their duty to appal and capture us in front of the pictures, just as Saint Anthony was tempted by visions of creatures from hell. In this way they can be compared to Pinocchio - a recurring motif in Ventura’s oeuvre - and his desire to become real.
Ventura’s works span a myriad of narratives that range from Filipino folklore, world myth, pop fiction, realism, naturalism, and fantasy. Combined in an exploded view inside the canvas, they signify what it means to be living in this day and age, particularly for the third-world Southeast Asian minority. The combination of technical virtuosity and the scope of subject matter displayed in each painting evokes the qualities of an epic, for which Ventura has gained attention as a master of his craft. The incredible depth of realism he applies to his figures generates a haunting view of a once familiar milieu now beset with layers of associations with other worlds: cartoon illustrations, mythical animals, ethnic tales, and elaborate plots. These grow from the base of Ventura’s signature monochromatic sphere from which, from time to time, burst sudden rays of color; for example, a rainbow beams from the eyes of his creatures in Rainbow in the Abyss (2012–2013), or a yellow flame bursts from a dinosaur’s mouth in Greatest Show (2012). More than stories, these are cautionary tales - of a world being eclipsed by its own imagination.
From human faces to rampaging animals, Ventura’s paintings engage by the unshackled spirit within. His scenes depict the vigor of activity and transformation. Even his seemingly static portraits become “unfrozen” through their metamorphoses. Everything inside the canvas breaks into a succession of tales. The passages from each chapter move from canvas to sculpture to installations, like creatures breaking out from their two-dimensional outline. As they roam the gallery space, the essence of Ventura’s art becomes more palpable, a lingering force in each individual seeking to break free through expression, imagination, and transformation. This is where, in Ventura’s pursuit, man and beast become one, as they shed every notion of history, memory, and cultural identity in lieu of an instinct that puts an end to all distinctions between tamer and untamed, liberator and prisoner.
Ronald Ventura’s paintings and sculptures, seemingly products of parody and juxtaposition, are in fact uncompromising manifestations of the mind’s reality struggling with the ambiguities of history and culture. They present an architecture of the mind, moving back and forth between the tamed surface of reality and the deep recesses of fantasy.

Education and Background

1993  Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Painting, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines


Selected Solo Exhibitions

2015  Big and Small, Ayala Museum, Makati City, Philippines
2014   E.R. (Endless Resurrection), Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York, USA
Bulul, Ronald Ventura and the Traditional Art of the Philippines, Museo delle Culture,
Lugano, Switzerland
2013   Voids and Cages, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
2012   Watching the Watchmen, UP Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Philippines
Recyclables, Singapore Tyler Print Institute
Fiesta Carnival, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
2011   A Thousand Islands, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York, USA
Humanime (I), Fine Art Centre, Taipei, Taiwan
2010   Converging Nature, The Drawing Room, Makati City, Philippines
Fragmented Channels, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
A Duad in Play (with Francis Ng), ICA Gallery, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
2009   Metaphysics of Skin, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York, USA
Major Highways, Expressways and Principal Arterials, Akili Museum of Art, Jakarta, Indonesia
2008   Mapping the Corporeal, NUS Museum, National University of Singapore
Zoomanities, Art Center, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2007   Illusions & Boundaries, The Drawing Room, Makati City, Philippines
Under The Rainbow, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Antipode: The Human Side, Artesan Gallery + Studio, Singapore
2006   Cross Encounters, Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
Dialogue Box, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2005   Human Study, The Cross Art Projects, Sydney, Australia
Morph, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Human Study, Art Center, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2004   Dead-End Images, Art Center, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Black Caricature, Big & Small Art Co., Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Contrived Desires, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2003   X-Squared, West Gallery and Big & Small Art Co., Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2002   Visual Defects, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Body, The Drawing Room, Makati City, Philippines
2001   The Other Side, The Drawing Room, Makati City, Philippines
Doors, Art Center, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2000   Innerscapes, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
All Souls Day, The Drawing Room, Makati City, Philippines

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011   Surreal Versus Surrealism in Contemporary Art, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Spain
2010   Nanjing Biennale, China
2009   4th Prague Biennale, Czech Republic
2005   Ateneo Art Awards; Cross Encounters, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center, Makati City, Philippines
2004   Korea Asian Art Festival, Insa Art Plaza, Seoul, Republic of Korea
19th Asian International Art Exhibition, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
2003   Thirteen Artists Awards, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City, Philippines
2002   ASEAN Art Awards, Bali International Convention Centre, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
2001   8th Annual Filipino American Arts Exposition, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California
Balik Guhit, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City, Philippines
2000   Guhit I, II & III, Ayala Museum, Makati City; UST Museum, University of Santo Tomas, Manila; UP Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Philippines
Mad About Lithographs, Ayala Museum, Makati City, Philippines
1999   9th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
1998   ASEAN Art Awards, Hanoi Fine Arts College and Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam
1st Lithograph Competition Exhibition, Drawing Room, Makati City, Philippines

Ronald Ventura, Manstar, 2013-2015, oil on canvas, Painting: 213 × 152 cm, Overall dimensions: 280 x 216 cm (framed in unique cast resin artist frame), VENT0001 Ronald Ventura, Manstar, 2013-2015, oil on canvas, Painting: 213 × 152 cm, Overall dimensions: 280 x 216 cm (framed in unique cast resin artist frame), VENT0001

Exhibitions

A3 PRESENTS: WASAK! Filipino Art Today

December 8, 2015 – January 30, 2016

Opening | Saturday | December 5, 2015, 12 - 6 pm

A group exhibition curated by Norman Crisologo and Erwin Romulo across two locations in Berlin at:

ARNDT Berlin Potsdamer Strasse 96 (Tue - Sat, 11am - 6pm)

ARNDT ART AGENCY A3 Fasanenstrasse 28 NEW PREMISES (Wed - Sat, 12 - 6pm)

Exhibiting artists: Zean Cabangis, Annie Cabigting, Buen Calubayan, Louie Cordero, Jigger Cruz, Marina Cruz, Kawayan De Guia, Alfredo Esquillo, Ian Fabro, Nona Garcia, Robert Langenegger, Pow Martinez, Manuel Ocampo, Alwin Reamillo, Norberto Roldan, Kaloy Sanchez, José Santos III, Rodel Tapaya, Tatong Torres and Ronald Ventura.

A publication has been published by DISTANZ Verlag to accompany the exhibition.

View the complete publication HERE.

The underlying motivation of the exhibition and accompanying publication in Berlin is to shed light on the fascinating contemporary art landscape in the Philippines. WASAK! explores Filipino contemporary art, in the hope of providing an emblematic contextual compendium for western audiences. Signaling the first instance of its kind, WASAK! thus offers snapshots of current artistic practices from the Philippines, uniting a selection of its leading protagonists across generational lines, genres, and media.

All of the 19 participating artists included have witnessed the social and political upheaval of Philippines’ recent history. Most of these artists spent their maturation grappling with local events that have transpired such as: natural disasters like earthquakes and floods; political unrest in the form of coup d’état and calls to presidential impeachments; political ineptitude in the form of corruption and briberies; and longstanding bouts with poverty and urban overpopulation. This selection of artists have nurtured, or at least, directed their ideas into the reality that is Manila, the nation’s capital, from where most of the country’s bizarre undulations spring.

Although much of their work is inspired by their own localities, these artists continue to seek their place among the rest of the world. Through the jumble and mess of their own ground zero—which is a country of broken histories, a nation of lush influences, and a people constantly having to live despite of something—their art continued to become, individually, more diverse and yet collectively, as a single exploded view. ‘Wasak’ is a Filipino word that means “in ruins.” When used in the vernacular, it means “wrecked,” or as a more encouraging interjection—it can also mean “going for broke.” It is a term that signals a hazard.
In this field of scattered landscapes, of broken narratives and loose continuity, what then could be ascribed as Philippine Art? The artists represented in WASAK! have come from the different potholes this gap has created, which explains the varying degrees how their work tries to explain not only a locality, but their own place in art history.

In a 1979 essay, one of the most influential Filipino art critic, Leo Benesa, asked the question: “What is Philippine in Philippine Art?” Knowing how any kind of art from any other place cannot escape the influence of the Western canon, he settled with a more optimistic response in implying that the intention of the artist to paint well is what makes them Filipino: “Painters first, and bearers of message, second,” he concluded. The majority of the artists in the show have chosen painting as their primary medium, with a few exceptions that have dealt primarily with assemblage and sculpture. In looking at their paintings, trying to find out what special place they hold, we can follow Benesa’s prescription—to look at the form first, and then deal with the message later. To try to understand, before anything else, that their intention is to do something which is relevant for them, before handing out a prognosis that casts them as representatives of an aesthetic sensibility, a socio-historical period, or worse, a movement.

The 19 artists covered in WASAK! provide us with an opportunity to experience the different directions they have wandered into—a chance to view a small course of history that is finding its way into the arts.

ARNDT Berlin
Potsdamer Strasse 96
10785 Berlin
info@arndtberlin.com
+49 30 2061 3870

ARNDT ART AGENCY A3
Fasanenstrasse 28
10719 Berlin
contact@arndtartagency.com
+49 30 2061 3870

PRESS

Randian | WASAK! | 7 April, 2016

Coconuts Manila | There’s an exhibit of PH contemporary art in Berlin and it’s called…'Wasak' | 15 January 2016

Zitty Berlin | „Wasak!“ zeigt Bilder aus einem katholischen Asien | 14 January 2016

Art Radar | WASAK! Filipino Art Today at ARNDT Berlin | 12 January 2016

Kunst und Film | WASAK! Filipino Art Today | January 2016

Artsy | ARNDT Explores the Complexities of Filipino Art in New Berlin Gallery Space | 12 January 2016

Financial Times | The Art Market: All about agencies | 18 December 2015

Blouin artinfo | ARNDT Opens new Berlin Venue With Filipino Art Shows | 11 December 2015

Taz | Kunstraum | Land der Brüche - Kunst aus den Philippinen | 10 December 2015

Artnet | Arndt Gallery Opens New Upmarket Location in West Berlin | 3 December 2015

Inquirer | Filipino Art Exhibit WASAK! to open new gallery in Berlin  | 26 November 2015

Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015 Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015 Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015 Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015 Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015 Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015 Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT Berlin, 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015
Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015  Installation view, WASAK! Filipino Art Today, ARNDT ART AGENCY (A3), 2015
"WASAK! Reloaded", installation view at ARNDT Fine Art, Singapore "WASAK! Reloaded", installation view at ARNDT Fine Art, Singapore

WASAK! Reloaded

Group Exhibition of Filipino Art Today

27 August - 8 October 2016

Opening | Saturday | August 27, 2016, 12 - 5 pm | ARNDT Fine Art, Singapore 

WASAK! Reloaded  is a group exhibition exploring the Filipino contemporary art landscape and is accompanied by a major hard copy publication WASAK! Filipino Art Today published by European publisher DISTANZ Verlag. The show is a continuation of the well-received group exhibition presented in Berlin in 2015, and will travel to Gazelli Art House in London in 2017.

Exhibiting artists include: Zean Cabangis, Louie Cordero, Jigger Cruz, Marina Cruz, Kawayan De Guia, Alfredo Esquillo, Ian Fabro, Robert Langenegger, Jason Montinola, Pow Martinez, Manuel Ocampo, Norberto Roldan, Kaloy Sanchez, Rodel Tapaya and Ronald Ventura.

The underlying motivation of WASAK! and its accompanying publication is to shed light on the fascinating contemporary art currently being produced in the Philippines. By offering an overview of Filipino contemporary art, WASAK!  aims to provide an emblematic contextual compendium. Uniting a selection of leading protagonists across generational lines, genres, and media, the exhibition presents snapshots of current artistic practices from the Philippines.

The 17 participating artists have witnessed the social and political upheaval of Philippines’ recent history. Most of these artists spent their maturation grappling with local events that have transpired such as: natural disasters like earthquakes and floods; political unrest in the form of coup d’état and calls to presidential impeachments; political ineptitude in the form of corruption and briberies; and longstanding bouts with poverty and urban overpopulation. This selection of artists have nurtured, or at least, directed their ideas into the reality that is Manila, the nation’s capital, from where most of the country’s bizarre undulations spring.

Although much of the artists´ work is inspired by their own localities, these artists continue to seek their place among the rest of the world. Through the jumble and mess of their own ground zero—which is a country of broken histories, a nation of lush influences, and a people constantly having to live despite of something—their art continued to become, individually, more diverse and yet collectively, as a single exploded view. ‘Wasak’ is a Filipino word that means “in ruins.” When used in the vernacular, it means “wrecked,” or as a more encouraging interjection—it can also mean “going for broke.” It is a term that signals a hazard.

In this field of scattered landscapes, of broken narratives and loose continuity, what then could be ascribed as Philippine Art? The artists represented in WASAK! have come from the different potholes this gap has created, which explains the varying degrees how their work tries to explain not only a locality, but their own place in art history.

The 17 artists covered in WASAK! provide us with an opportunity to experience the different directions they have wandered into—a chance to view a small course of history that is finding its way into the arts.

Press Contact:
Pey Chuan Tan
peychuan@arndtfineart.com
+65 9111 3203

Venue:
ARNDT Fine Art Pte Ltd
Gillman Barracks
47 Malan Road #01-25
Singapore 109444
Tel. +65 67340775
Opening hours: Tues - Sat 11am- 7pm, and by appointment

Press:
Blouin ARTINFO | Filipino Artists Present "WASAK! Reloaded" at ARNDT Fine Art | July 21, 2016

Blouin Art Info | Filipino Artists Present ‘WASAK! Reloaded’ at ARNDT Fine Art | July 21, 2016