Contemporary Philippine Artists and in Visual Art

Ernest Concepcion (1977-present)

Concepcion is a studio artist whose work experiments with intense emotion, deconstructing images in his paintings,
sculptures, and installations. He creates art like recording a music album, where each painting is from a series of nine.
Concepcion describes it as producing an old favorite, a classic, sleeper hit and one piece he doesn’t really like but keeps
coming back to.
He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor in Fine Arts while under the mentorship of pioneer
conceptual artist Roberto Chabet. After graduation, he moved to New York in 2002 and spent a significant amount of time
in Brooklyn, where he participated in art residences for the Bronx Museum of Art Artists-in-the-Marketplace (AIM)
Program, the Artists Alliance Inc. Rotating Studio Program, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Workspace
Program.
Concepcion returned to Manila in 2013 with a triumphant solo show at the U.P. Vargas Museum, after participating in the
El Museo del Barrio La Bienal in New York. He remains active on the Asian art scene and is a recent recipient of the 13th
Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Ronald Ventura (1973-present)

Ventura is a contemporary artist from Manila, with a Bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of
Santo Tomas. He initially taught in the same school after graduating but found his true calling as a visual artist after his
first solo exhibition at the Drawing Room in Makati in 2000. Ventura’s work is known to consist of multiple layers, using
imagery that focuses on the human form. His paintings are a dramatic union of comic sketches, reality, and graffiti. He
draws inspiration from Asian mythology, Catholicism, science fiction and comic book characters. He is known to have the
highest selling work in the history of the Southeast Asian art market: his painting Grayground sold for a whopping $1.1
million USD at an auction in Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

Leeroy New (1986-present)

Initially trained as a sculptor, Leeroy’s work blends theatre, fashion, film, production design, and public art. He graduated
from the prestigious Philippine High School for the Arts, before continuing his Fine Arts degree at the University of the
Philippines. He has received artist residences in Singapore and Australia and was awarded the 13 Artists Award by the
Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2014. His large-scale public art uses common objects and materials found in everyday
environments.
In the sand dunes of Paoay, Ilocos Norte, Leeroy collaborated with the local government to convert discarded water tanks
and cement fountains into a post-apocalyptic park filled with sculptures. His most recent grant from the Burning Man
Global Arts foundation was used to transform the most polluted waterway in Manila, the Pasig River, with floating
installations – challenging views on the environment.

Oscar Villamiel (1953-present)

Born in Caloocan City, Manila, Villamiel is a multimedia artist known for his large-scale installations consisting of objects
found in local communities. His art career may have started later in life, but his installations have enthralled audiences for
the past decade. He initially worked as a set designer for television, a leather bag craftsman and a successful t-shirt
company entrepreneur before holding his first solo exhibition in 2006.
He once filled a room with thousands of bullhorns in his show Mga Damong Ligaw (‘Wild Weeds’) in 2014, at the Light and
Space Contemporary in Fairview, Manila. The bullhorn installation was made to look like a terrain of weeds when viewed
at a certain angle. Villamiel’s work reflects the current socio-political situation in the country, highlighting elements of
poverty, consumerism, and religion. His massive installation Payatas, which features thousands of doll heads, was chosen
to represent the Philippines in the Singapore Biennale exhibition in 2013. It took him two-and-a-half years to finish this
work.

Dex Fernandez (1984-present)

Another Caloocan native, Dexter practices a variety of mediums ranging from painting to street art and animation. He
most recently participated in art residency programs in Lir Art Space, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2013), Asian Cultural
Council in New York, Fine Arts Work Center, Massachusetts (2015), and Ongoing Art Center, Tokyo (2016).
His work is influenced by pop culture, graffiti, children’s drawings, and tattoos – creating pieces that challenge people’s
views on fine art. He is known locally for his on-going series of Garapata street art (the Tagalogword for ‘tick’), filling public
spaces with the notion of ‘infecting’ the city with his art.
Fernandez has exhibited extensively in top galleries in the Philippines and abroad, including in Paris, New York, and the
Singapore Biennale. He recently participated in the Melbourne Art Fair 2018 with fellow Filipino, Melbourne-based artist
Diokno Pasilan.

Neil Pasilan (1971-present)

Brother to artist Diokno Pasilan, Neil is a Bacolod-born artist from a family of craftsmen and boat builders. He is a self-
taught visual artist who displayed creativity as a child. Pasilan has moulded clay figures for most of his life and continues
to use this in his work.
Currently based in Manila, he has become known for his paintings that hold multiple layers, using different mediums to
expose new forms. Pasilan’s work has been represented by the Drawing Room of Manila, Artinformal Gallery, and West
Gallery. A notable collaboration with Raffy Napay was featured in Art Fair Philippines in 2017.

Kawayan de Guia (1979-present)

This Baguio-born artist is son to legendary filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik and German artist Katrin de Guia, and was mentored
by famous Baguio artists BenCab and Santiago Bose. Kawayan’s art contemplates the Philippines’ changing urban culture.
He illogically arranges texts and icons to compose a painting, depicting the human form in new ways. His work draws from
popular culture, the media and mass consumerism. He also creates sculptures and massive art installations – such as
his Bomba series – and blings out discarded Jukeboxes.
In 2011, he initiated the Ax(iS) Art Project, promoting the local artist community in the chilly hill station of Baguio and the
Cordilleras. Kawayan has held numerous solo exhibitions in the Philippines and abroad. He was a guest curator for the
Singapore Biennale in 2013.

Patricia Perez Eustaquio (1977-present)

Eustaquio is an artist who works in various mediums, experimenting with different materials through installation, drawing,
and painting. The frames from her painting are cut, resulting in canvases that evoke images of wilted flowers and carcasses.
Her sculptures are fashioned from fabric, covering objects with resin-treated silk or crochet. The object is then removed,
to allow the fabric to retain its position, folds and drapes. Her work examines the ideas of perception and memory.
Eustaquio’s solo exhibitions have been held in Manila, New York, Taiwan, and Singapore. In 2016, her site-specific
installation was featured in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Martha Atienza (1981-present)

Born to a Dutch mother and Filipino father, Atienza continues to live both in the Philippines and Holland. After receiving
her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Academy of Visual Arts and Design in the Netherlands, she accepted residency grants
from England, Australia, New York and Singapore. Her video art reflects snapshots of reality and the environment drawn
from her Filipino and Dutch roots.
She is currently interested in using contemporary art as an aid to bring about social change. In 2017, she won the Baloise
Art Prize at Art Basel International Fair for her video installation Our Islands, 11°16`58.4” 123°45`07.0”E., which shows a
traditional Catholic procession from the Philippines under water.

Elmer Borlongan (1967-present)

The Manila-based artist often refers to Filipino culture in his paintings, drawing from everyday scenes of local urban life,
which sharply depict an imperfect world. Borlongan’s work is a favorite among collectors and at auctions. In his first major
work, Rehimen (1988), he uses bold brushwork to manipulate the Marlboro emblem, which is guarded by a pack of dogs
as an emaciated figure lays in despair in the foreground. The painting represents the marginalized Filipino people who are
living in poverty, with no way of moving forward. In February 2018, Borlongan celebrated a retrospective of 25 years in
art, showcasing more than 150 paintings and 50 drawings featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

Leandro V. Locsin (Architecture, 1990)

A man who believes that true Philippine Architecture “is the product of two great streams of culture, the oriental and the
occidental… to produce a new object of profound harmony,” Leandro V. Locsin is the man responsible for designing
everything you see at CCP Complex – the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Folk Arts Theatre, Philippine International
Convention Center, Philcite, and The Westin Hotel (now Sofitel Philippine Plaza).

Carlos “Botong” Francisco (Visual Arts, 1973)

Hailing from the Art Capital of the Philippines, Angono native Carlos “Botong” Francisco is known for single-handedly
reviving the modern art of murals through works that showed slices of the past. He was such a prolific muralist that he
became its most well-known practitioner for almost 30 years. Want a glimpse of his works? Your best bet is to visit Manila
City Hall.

(+) Ildefonso Santos Jr. (I.P. Santos)

National Artist for Architecture, 2006
Professor, College of Architecture

(+) Jose T. Joya

National Artist for Visual Arts, 2003
Dean, College of Fine Arts, 1970-1978
Professor, College of Fine Arts

Lino Brocka (Cinema, 1997)

Catalino “Lino” Ortiz Brocka is known to many as one of, if not the greatest Filipino director of all time. He espoused
“freedom of expression” throughout all his films, injecting each and every one with a social activist spirit. Some of his well-
known works include Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (1974), Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975), and Insiang (1976),
the latter being the first Filipino film to be shown at Cannes.

Levi Celerio (Literature and Music, 1997)

Levi Celerio, a prolific lyricist and composer, is known for having effortlessly translating or rewriting lyrics of traditional
Filipino melodies like “O Maliwanag Na Buwan” (Iloko), “Ako ay May Singsing” (Pampango), and “Alibangbang” (Visaya).
He’s also been immortalized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person to make music using just a leaf.

Leonor Orosa Goquingco (Dance, 1976)

Leonor Orosa Goquingco is a pioneer Filipino choreographer known to many as “The Trailblazer,” “The Mother of
Philippine Theater Dance,” and “Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics.” She has produced stunning choreographies
during her 50-year career, highlighted by “Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend, and Love,” which elevated native folk dance
to its highest stage of development.

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero (Theater, 1997)

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero is a teacher and theater artist who, in his 35 years of teaching, has mentored some of the country’s
best Filipino performing artists, including Joy Virata and Joonee Gamboa. He is also the founder and artistic director of the
UP Mobile Theater, leading the way for the concept of a theater campus by bringing theater closer to students and
audiences in the countryside.

Sionil Jose (Literature, 2001)

One of the few living national artists, F. Sionil Jose is best known for creating the five-novel masterpiece known as the
Rosales saga: Poon; Tree; My Brother, My Executioner; The Pretenders; and Mass. Set in the town of Rosales, Pangasinan,
it talks about the five generations of two families, the Samsons and the Asperri, during the Spanish and American
occupation.

Francisco F. Feliciano , DMA

National Artist for Music, 2014
Professor, College of Music (1969-1972, 1980-1986)
Ramon P. Santos, PhD
National Artist for Music, 2014
University Professor Emeritus, College of Music

Bienvenido Lumbera, PhD

National Artist for Literature, 2006
Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Letters

(+) Ildefonso Santos Jr. (I.P. Santos)

National Artist for Architecture, 2006
Professor, College of Architecture

Virgilio S. Almario, PhD (Rio Alma)

National Artist for Literature, 2003
Professor Emeritus and Dean, College of Arts and Letters (2003-2006)

(+) Jose T. Joya

National Artist for Visual Arts, 2003
Dean, College of Fine Arts, 1970-1978
Professor, College of Fine Arts

Awardee Date of Award Category

42. F. Sionil Jose 2001 Literature
43. Ang Kiukok (+) 2001 Visual Arts
44. Ishmael Bernal (++) 2001 Cinema
45. Severino Montano (++) 2001 Theater
46. Jose T. Joya (++) 2003 Visual Arts (Painting)
47. Virgilio S. Almario 2003 Literature
48. Alejandro R. Roces (+) 2003 Literature
49. Eddie S. Romero (+) 2003 Cinema & Broadcast Arts
50. Salvador F. Bernal (+) 2003 Theater Design
51. Benedicto R. Cabrera 2006 Visual Arts
52. Abdulmari Asia Imao 2006 Visual Arts
53. Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera 2006 Literature
54. Ramon Obusan (+) 2006 Dance
55. Fernando Poe Jr. (++) 2006 Cinema
56. Archt. Ildefonso P. Santos, Jr. (+) 2006 Landscape Architecture
57. Ramon O. Valera (++) 2006 Fashion Design
58. Manuel Conde (++) 2009 Film
59. Lázaro Francísco (++) 2009 Literature
60. Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (+) 2009 Visual Arts
61. Alice Reyes 2014 Dance
62. Francisco V. Coching (++) 2014 Visual Arts
63. Cirilo F. Bautista 2014 Literature
64. Francisco F. Feliciano 2014 Music
65. Ramon P. Santos 2014 Music
66. Jose Maria V. Zaragoza (++) 2014 Architecture
National Artist Year of Conferment Category

Ang Kiukok 2001 Visual Arts

Ishmael Bernal 2001 Film

F. Sionil Jose 2001 Literature

Severino Montano 2001 Theater

Virgilio S. Almario 2003 Literature

Salvador F. Bernal 2003 Theater and Design

Jose T. Joya 2003 Visual Arts

Alejandro R. Roces 2003 Literature

Eddie Romero 2003 Film/Broadcast Arts

Bienvenido Lumbera 2006 Literature

Ramon A. Obusan 2006 Dance

Benedicto R. Cabrera 2006 Visual Arts

Ildefonso P. Santos Jr. 2006 Architecture

Ronald Allan K. Poe (Fernando Poe 2006 Film

Jr.)

Ramon Valera 2006 Fashion Design

Abdulmari Asia Imao 2006 Visual Arts

 Music  Visual Arts

o Levi Celério
o Ernani Joson Cuenco
o Felipe Padilla de León
o Francisco Feliciano
o Lucrecia R. Kasilag
o José Maceda
o Antonio J. Molina
o Lucio D. San Pedro
o Ramón Santos
o Andrea O. Veneración
o Antonio R. Buenaventura
o Jovita Fuentes
o Ryan Cayabyab
 Dance
o Francisca Reyes Aquino
o Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio
o Leonor Orosa-Goquingco
o Ramón Obusan
o Alice Reyes
o Lucrecia Reyes Úrtula
 Theater
o Napoleón V.
Abueva (Sculpture)
o Larry Alcala (Comics)
o Fernando C.
Amorsolo (Painting)
o Benedicto "BenCab" Reyes
Cabrera (Painting)
o Francisco Coching (Comics)
o Victorio C. Edades (Painting)
o Carlos "Botong" V.
Francisco (Painting)
o Abdulmari Asia
Imao (Sculpture)
o José T. Joya (Painting)
o Ang Kiukok (Painting)
o César Legaspi (Painting)
o Arturo R. Luz (Painting)
o Vicente S.
Manansala (Painting)
o J. Navarro Elizalde (Painting)
o Hernándo R.
Ocampo (Painting)
 o Daisy Avellana
o Honorata "Atang" de la Rama
o Rolando S. Tínio
o Salvador F. Bernál (Set
Design)
o Lamberto V. Avellana
o Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
o Severino Montano
o Amelia Lapena Bonifacio
 Architecture, Design, and Allied
Arts
o Pablo Antonio (Architecture)
o Juan Nakpíl (Architecture)
o Leandro V.
Locsín (Architecture)
o Francisco
Mañosa (Architecture)
o I. P. Santos (Architecture)
o Ramón Valera (Fashion
Design)
o José María
Zaragoza (Architecture)
 Historical Literature
o Carlos Quirino
o Guillermo E.
Tolentino (Sculpture)
o Federico Aguilar
Alcuáz (Painting, Sculpture,
and Mixed Media)
 Literature
o Francisco Arcellana
o Virgilio S. Almario
o Cirilo F. Bautista
o N. V. M. Gonzalez
o Amado V. Hernández
o Nick Joaquín
o F. Sioníl José
o Bienvenido Lumbera
o Resil Mojares
o Alejándro R. Roces
o Carlos P. Rómulo
o Edith L. Tiempo
o José García Villa
o Lázaro Francisco
 Film
o Lino Brocka
o Ishmael Bernál
o Gerardo de León
o Eddie S. Romero
o Fernando Poe Jr.
o Manuel Conde
o Kidlat Tahimik

Ishmael Bernál Film

posthumous
conferment
Severino Montano Theater

2001

F. Sioníl José Literature

Ang Kiukok

Visual Arts - Painting

posthumous
José T. Joya
conferment

2003
Virgilio S. Almario

Literature

Alejándro R. Roces
 Eddie S. Romero Film and Broadcast Arts

Salvador F. Bernál Theater and Design

Benedicto Reyes
Visual Arts - Painting
Cabrera

Abdulmari Asia Imao Visual Arts - Sculpture

Bienvenido Lumbera Literature

2006 Ramón Obusan Dance

I.P. Santos Architecture - Landscape

Fernando Poe Jr. Film

posthumous
conferment
Architecture, Design and Allied Arts - Fashion
Ramón Valera
Design

Manuel Conde Film and Broadcast Arts

Lázaro Francisco Literature posthumous

2009
conferment

Visual Arts - Painting, Sculpture and Mixed

Federico Aguilar Alcuáz
Media

Alice Reyes Dance

posthumous
2014 Francisco Coching Visual Arts
conferment

Cirilo F. Bautista Literature

 Francisco Feliciano Music

Ramón Santos Music

posthumous
José María Zaragoza Architecture
conferment

Ryan Cayabyab Music

Francisco Mañosa Architecture and Allied Arts

posthumous
Ramon Muzones Literature
conferment

Resil Mojares Literature

2018

posthumous
Larry Alcala Visual Arts
conferment

Amelia Lapeña
Theater
Bonifacio

Kidlat Tahimik Film and Broadcast Arts