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.

Ronald Ventura is a leading figure in South-East Asian contemporary art. His

intricately layered paintings and multimedia artworks intertwine historically laden
symbols with pop culture signifiers, creating richly imaginative compositions that act
as a metaphor for the multifaceted national identity of the Philippines.

Ronald Ventura is a contemporary Filipino artist known for his dynamic

melding of realism, cartoons, and graffiti. Portraying scenes of chaotic
disarray, Ventura culls from science fiction, Western history, Asian
mythology, Catholicism, and popular comic book characters, in producing
his work.

Ronald Ventura is a contemporary artist known for his finely crafted

sculptures, installations, and works on paper. Ventura’s work is known to
consist of multiple layers that stands for the miscellaneous national,
historical, cultural and religious identity of the Philippines. Featuring a wide
and complex variety of styles, forms and imagery, in his oeuvre one can
find aspects of graffiti, cartoons, hyperrealism, surrealism, pop art. He
draws inspiration from scenes of chaotic disarray, Ventura culls from
science fiction, Western history, Asian mythology, Catholicism, and popular
comic book characters.

Ventura has exhibited extensively across the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Italy,
Switzerland, USA, Taiwan, and at institutions such as the Fukuoka Asian Art
Museum, (Japan), Ayala Museum, (Philippines), The Metropolitan Museum of Manila
(Philippines), Singapore Art Museum, and NUS Museum (Singapore). A major solo
exhibition of Ventura’s work, Project: Finding Home, took place at the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Taipei in 2016. Ventura has received numerous awards including
“People of the Year”, People Asia, Philippines (2018); Ateneo Art Award (2005); and
Thirteen Artists Award, Cultural Centre of the Philippines (2003), amongst others.
His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, and is included in many private
collections. In 2011, his canvas Grayground Painting was sold for US $1.1 million at
Sotheby’s Contemporary Southeast Asian Painting auction in Hong Kong making
him as the highest selling artist from the Southeastern Asia

His practice is constantly evolving and he manages to employ his diverse

creativity in his highly recognizable work.

Ronald Ventura is the most famous and successful Filipino contemporary

artist known primarily for his multilayered works that stands for the
miscellaneous national, historical, cultural and religious identity of the
Philippines. Featuring a wide and complex diverse of styles, forms and
imagery, in his oeuvre one can find aspects of graffiti, cartoons,
hyperrealism, surrealism, pop art. His practice is constantly evolving and he
manages to employ his diverse creativity in his highly recognizable work.

in case you don’t know yet, there are so many notable contemporary arts in
the Philippines. Here’s a list of some contemporary Filipino artists and their
artworks that showed the world how beautiful the art in the Philippines is.

1. Ronald Ventura: “Crack in the Hull,” at the León Gallery

Magnificent September Auction 2014 at P25.7 million

In 2011, Ventura’s painting Grayground set a record for the most ever paid for a work of Southeast Asian
contemporary art, when it sold for $1.1 million at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian
Paintings auction in Hong Kong. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, and is included in many
private collections. Ventura continues to live and work in Manila, Philippines.
Cumulus is one of his greatest masterworks considering the large scale of the work that speaks of a certain
ambition in Ventura’s storytelling.

One of his greatest masterworks is the Cumulus. It is a dark and foreboding landform – weighed down with an
amalgamation of symbols and motifs against a thunderous background of monochrome whites, blacks and greys.
In this artwork he brings the darker side of the Philippines that goes against an idyllic external perspective of the
blue skies and sandy beaches of the Philippine islands. It is a grim image of the realities that lie beneath the
seemingly picturesque Philippines, and of the irreversible impact of external influences that have become the
foundations of present society. It reveals layers of narrative upon closer inspection as Ventura takes us on a trip
in search of the true nature and deep history of the Philippines.

Ventura’s paints a grim image of the realities that lie beneath the seemingly picturesque Philippines, and of the
irreversible impact of external influences that have become the foundations of present society. His brilliant grasp
of compelling motifs and his ability to synthesize them within a single composition are a testament to his artistic
technique and vision. Cumulus reveals layers of narrative upon closer inspection as Ventura takes us on a trip in
search of the true nature and deep history of the Philippines.