Artist spotlight: Ronald Ventura

08.10.2014

We are delighted to highlight the immensely talented Filipino artist Ronald Ventura, one of whose paintings has recently been acquired by the collection.  

Ronald Ventura, 'Carne Carnivale', 2014Ronald Ventura, 'Carne Carnivale', 2014 (detail) 

Ventura is a leading Filipino contemporary artist known for his finely crafted sculptures, installations and paintings. Born in Manila in 1973, where he still lives and works, Ventura ranks as one of the most acclaimed artists of his generation in South East Asia. With their unique combinations of figurative motifs, his works are now among the most recognizable images of contemporary art in the region.

Ronald Ventura, 'Carne Carnival', 2014 Ventura’s works are characterized by visual and conceptual layers that cobble together images from popular culture, Eastern and Western folklore and traditional Filipino arts and crafts to create expansive, surrealist compositions, pocketed by references to dangers such as rampant consumerism, pollution and war. He specifically delves into the fraught history of his own country, exploring the ramifications of repeated colonization on its culture and society. This layering process acts as a metaphor for the multi faceted identity of the Philippines

Ventura first exhibited in 1998 and has since gone on to have two solo shows at Tyler Rollins Fine Art in New York in 2009 and 2011 respectively and at Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong amongst many other galleries and museums across Asia and Europe. Having established a successful reputation, the prices for Ventura’s work have been skyrocketing. His painting ‘Grayground’ was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April 2011 for $1.1 million – the highest auction price for a work by a South East Asian artist at the time. 

Ventura is represented by Galerie Perrotin in Paris and Hong Kong, Tyler Rollins in New York, and Primo Marella Gallery in Milano.

     

For more information visit Ronald Ventura's artist page.