Young Filipinos top guns at Sotheby’s
by Cesar Barrioquinto

THE exciting new development in the Southeast Asian art scene is the handful of young Filipino painters who are showing up the old masters—both living and departed—in the fiercely competitive auction block. Among the handful whose stars have made it to the region’s firmament are Ronald Ventura, Andres Barrioquinto and Jon Jaylo, and they made it by coming up with fresh ideas pegged on universal themes.

Ventura, 37, is the current leader of the pack, producing pieces that amaze with the furious bidding they attract and the prices they draw. His Grayhound (5ft by 15ft), the star of Sotheby’s auction of Southeast Asian art in Hong Kong on April 4, fetched HK$8.4 million (P46.2 million), eclipsing the HK$2.5 million that his entry had attracted in Sotheby’s October 2010 auction. It set a world record for any contemporary Southeast Asian painting at auction and for Ventura, and beat the works of such established masters as Fernando Amorsolo and Vicente Manansala that sold for less than HK$1 million.

Barrioquinto, 35, also set a new record for himself when his piece Arms Around Your Love (5ft by 7 ft) sold for HK$550,000, topping the HK$500,000 that his entry in the October auction had attracted. Jaylo’s A Song for Alice (5ft by 7ft), his first entry in any Sotheby’s auction, sold for HK$275,000.

Ventura’s citations fill many pages, and those include many jurors’ choices in painting competitions and being named one of the 13 outstanding young Filipino artists in 2003. He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas, where he later taught painting and became Barrioquinto’s teacher for three years.

Barrioquinto started drawing at age 10, relying on his genes and the few art reproductions in his parents’ house to guide him. (Someone recently put in the market the drawings he did for Entrepreneur Philippines magazine a few years ago, selling them for P10,000 to P20,000 apiece.) He was named, with Ventura, one of the 13 outstanding young Filipino artists in 2003, and his awards include first prize in Metrobank’s painting competition in 1988. He is the only Filipino so far to have been cited in an international drawing competition in Taiwan (in 1999), and the only Santo Tomas alumnus to have received the school’s Benavidez Award twice (in 1999 and 2000).

Jaylo, 35, a graduate of the Far Eastern University, stopped painting after graduation to go into business. He returned after a few years, and after having been inspired by Barrioquinto’s Death of Summer, one of the pieces in his one-man show at the West Gallery, where Jaylo has also been exhibiting. Jaylo has yet to put up a one-man exhibit here, but he has mounted a one-man show in Berlin (in October 2010) and has exhibited here and abroad including, aside from various cities in Germany, in the United States, Korea and Singapore. He placed second in Shell’s painting competition in 1997.

Ventura declined to be interviewed for this piece, and did not return a questionnaire, but Barrioquinto and Jaylo cited the old masters and many of their contemporaries as the artists they admired most. Jaylo specifically named Geraldine Javier, Nona Garcia, Rodel Tapaya, Jose Santos III, Yasmin Sison, Mark Justiniani, and Elmer Borlongan. He reserved his special comments for Ventura, whom he admires for his skill and the way he pushes the limits of possibility, and Barrioquinto, whose unconventional style, evolving technique and fresh ideas amaze him.

These achievers are now in the firmament, but how long their stars stay there will depend on how much talent and skills they have. One needs talent to think up ideas and the skills to execute them. One is useless without the other. “You need talent and skills to be successful,” Barrioquinto says. “And your theme must always be universal.”

Adequate talent and skills may be enough to stay in the local scene, but one needs more in the firmament outside where the action is in the auctions, where the competition is fiercer, and where even the masters are wary because everyone is on an equal footing. It’s the buyers and the amount they pay for anything—not the artist’s name, reputation or record—that decide the rankings. One must be prepared for war. “You need to submit your best work,” Jaylo says. “Sa labas kelangan pang-giyera ‘yung gawa mo.”

Silya Elektrika : Interview with Andres Barrioquinto

By Bosyo

Andres Barrioquinto is part of the Tres Acidos painter group along with Ronald Ventura, Joel Mendez, Kiko Escora and Butch Payawal. Their paintings are often haunting, static representational paintings powered by angst. They seem to draw inspiration as much from "Sandman" comic book covers as they do from western surrealist masters such as Edward Munch.

Currently they have an exhibit entitled "Animal". (Aptly enough, the guest of horror and subject for some of the paintings is convicted criminal and spouse to deposed dictator Imelda Marcos. Hayop talaga siya, kahayupan ang asal.)

We caught up with Andres Barrioquinto as they were setting-up for the exhibit...

How would you describe your art? Andres: Isolation. Dark figures.

Sa lahat ng paintings mo or just this partcular series?

Andres: Almost sa lahat. Puro isang tao lang ang linalagay ko sa canvas. Kapag dalawa may ibig pagsabihin na yan...

Ano pagsabihin kapag isa lang, kapag dalawa?

Andres: Kapag dalawa may mangyayari na. May interaction, may colaboration. Kapag isa lang isolation. Kadalasan hindi linalagyan ng kamay para walang galaw. Still. Very haunting.

Yung mga mata walang pupils..?

Andres: Actually ganoon na nga. Kasi kapag nilagyan mo ng mata nagkakaraoon ng personality. Souless dapat sila.

Souless, static and anonymous...

Andres: ...pero tao pa rin. Kadalasan may text nakapatong sa paintings.

Ano pinahihiwatig mo dun? "Void"..."Slave"..."Flesh"...andoon na lahat yata ng pagsabihin?

Andres: Dati may nagsabi sa akin lahat na binibigay ko sa viewer. Tapos na, wala na tuloy mystery. Pero pag-naglalagay ako parang nagsasalita yung painting. Tumutunog. Usually it comes from lyrics.

Sino inspiration mo?

Andres: Nagsimula ako kay Jean-Michel Basquiat, graffiti movement artist. Marc Chagall...Edward Munch...

Sa interview ko dati sa kasamahan mong si Ronald Ventura nabanggit niya na surrealist ang "school" niya sa painting. Bahagi ng anong movement ang paintings mo?

Andres: Feelings eh. Kaya may pagka-expressionist...in a dark way. These days I am starting to do landscapes. Vast ones with with a small solitary figure. May nagyayari pero still. Feelings na lang. Hindi na kailanagan ng may nangyayari. To express feelings through the colours used, the weather in the sky, the posture of the figures. Balak ko may kwento na. Like, may pirasong papel sa sahig, may pinapahiwatig sa kung anong nangyari.

Ano experiences no sa buhay kung puro isolation ang theme mo?

Andres: Siguro dahil tumira ako sa Hong Kong for three years alone. Wala akong kaibigan doon. Napa-away pa ako isang chinese gang. Talagang brutal, suntukan kami sa video arcade. Noong nalaman nilang Pilipino ako nagkaroon ng discrimination. Araw-araw naghahabulan kami sa mall. Yung feeling of isolation maraming iba rin ang pinag-mumulan. Katulad ng pag-hihiwalay namin ng girlfrend ko, mga frustrations. Kapag nangyayari sa akin mga yan hindi ako kaagad nagpipinta. Hindi ko kasi makita kung saan ako doon. Kapag masaya na ako at saka ko na lang ma-rerealize na ganoon pala. May kaunting distance sa pangyayari. Mapipinta ko lang siya kapag masaya na ako. Balak ko sa next paintings ko sariling words ko na gagamitin ko. Baka sa sasusunod Tagalog na...

Nagpipinta ka ba para maging masaya?

Andres: Hindi. Parang diary yan para sa akin. Magkasama ang personal at artistic life ko. Pero kapag mga babae ang pipinta ko hindi sila nakakatakot. Mas maliwanag. Pero these days mas careful ako... bandang huli ikaw patay doon...

Anong masasabi niyo tungkol sa current local art scene kung saan kanya-kanyang kampo ang mga pintor? May post-modernists na maka-Chabet, may mga social-realists sa Hiraya Gallery at meron rin mga tulad ni Orlina na verging on the decorative? Kayo mismo sa Tres Acidos sa Big And Small Gallery may common...

Andres: ...dark at figurative? Oo. Di mo mapipili kung anong maganda purket maka-Chabet o anoman lang siya. Wala namang bago sa lahat diyan eh. Walang nauuna. Hindi lang naman sa Philippine art scene ganyan ang situasyon.

Paano mo masasabi isang painting Filipino?

Andres: Universal yan eh, hindi mo na dapat kailangan sabihin... "Ano itsura ng Pinoy?" Wala tayong itsura. Sa sine palang itsura natin katulong. Diba sa movies yun palaging role natin. Ang dami ng sumakop sa atin. Pwede natin sabihin malays tayo pero ang dami ng lahi natin. Pwede nating balikan yung hitory pero ikaw ba ay ganoon pa ba? Hindi, hindi ka na ganoon. Hindi ka na tribo. Exploited ka na. Westernized ka na. Gamit ko westernized. Oil ko, brush ko westernized. Hindi purket may nagsasayaw ng tinikling sa painting Pinoy yan. Not necessarily the painting itself pero gamit westernized. Buti pa sana kung yung gamit Pinoy... Oil painting both as high art and personal expression is a western definition.

Art as practiced by our ancestors was a community effort. It was also very utilitarian. They embellished things of purpose. Pure design. Sacred bulol carvings... Maranao swords... Vigan furniture... Paano yung buhay ngayon ng isang pintor?

Andres: Kapag pintor ka talagang palagi kang nasa bahay mo. At mag-isa ka. Kapag mag-isa ka lang doon lumalabas yung ikaw. Full-time painter ako.

Financially rewarding ba?

Andres: Meron iba. Bumebenta naman pero yung iba natatakot.

Anong message niyo sa mga batang painters?

Andres: Pagpatuloy niyo lang ginagawa niyo. Lakas loob lang yan. Yung iba kapag nakakapasok sa art scene parang nawawala sila, nakakain sila. Kapag nakagawa sila ng painting na hindi nila gusto pero bumebenta, yun na lang gagawin nila. Humihina sila kapag andito na sila, nawawala yung sarili nila. "...sa bagay, magkakapera ako diyan..." Pagpatuloy niyo lang ang ginagawa niyo. Pagandahin niyo pa.

I had always been drawn to Andres Barrioquinto’s faces, especially the monochromatic ones of recent history, rendered almost flat, in tones of blue. They exhibit horrified expressions, quite compelling, as they stare out from empty sockets. He’d paint them alongside cubist patterns, remnants of an earlier series that had

"Realms Of The Senses", detail
become his signature. This past year, though, Andy’s paintings took on a different style. To be honest, I did not really enjoy the purely photorealstic direction his narratives had shifted to. They felt a little too familiar. We’ve seen them before from others.

Andres Barrioquinto, "Eden"
In this show, The Gods of Small Things, Andy experiments yet again. I think he’s produced his best work yet. He turns to Japanese paper prints, silk screened or stenciled Chiyogami and Katazome-shi. He takes patterns based on traditional kimono designs, their bright colors and images from nature, and applies them in

Andres Barrioquinto, "False Face"
detailed layers onto stylized portraits. Cranes, chrysanthemums, leaves, and swirls intermingle with unsmiling faces. His subjects look out—vacuous, sombre, forbidding—beneath ornamentation rendered repeatedly, akin to tattoos, over their visages. If his faces drew me in before, now they positively transfix. He combines the photorealistic with the graphic, decorative elements

Andres Barrioquinto, "Forbidden"
that evoke placidity and balance fuse with the strong and disturbing. What potential for an interesting series!

By Andres Barrioquinto, "Mirror of Deceit" and "Dust In The Eye"
For the show’s catalogue, Andy had good friend, writer Dave Lock (the subject for Realms of the Senses), compose short verses for each of the pieces on view.

Andres Barrioquinto, "The Maker"
The 34-year-old Andy has exhibited in more than 20 shows. He’s had his ups and downs as a painter too. He tells me that without consciously being aware of it, he’s recently found his stride. He mustered the discipline to paint everyday, keeping to a working schedule that pushes him to create as he paints. He’s discovered a love for his craft that’s made him meticulous, almost obsessive even, with all the aspects of his work, from the condition of his canvases to the final finishing touches on his pieces. He doesn’t discriminate, both small or large-scale paintings receive the same dedication and attention to detail. It certainly shows.

Andres Barrioquinto, "Twilight Madman"

View of exhibit installation
The Gods of Small Things runs from 17 October to 7 November 2009 at Blanc Compound, 359 Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong. Phone (632)752-0032 or visit

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ANDRES BARRIOQUINTO, ARUNDHATI ROY, BLANC GALLERY MAKATI, JAPANESE PRINTS, PHILIPPINE ART, PORTRAITS, THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS


Oddity of small things
In Art on October 15, 2009 at 10:51 am

Andres Barrioquinto The Gods of Small Things at the Blanc Gallery in Makati. All photos courtesy of Blanc Gallery
In Andres Barrioquinto’s latest one-man show at Blanc Gallery (Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City, Philippines), The God of Small Things (17 October to November 7), portraiture merges with emblematic Japanese print motifs, the aesthetic blends with emotional states, and the surface is but an alluring mask that conceals a core of horror.
This is art in extremis, seductive and yet well-within the province and territory of nihilistic traditions.
Barrioquinto is dubbed by Philippine art critics as a “master of the dark and mysterious.” When I saw Barrioquinto’s “A Dreaded Sunny Day” at West Gallery (Quezon City) in 2002, I was mesmerised by the subtle, masterful orchestration of despairing, decaying figures. Here, I said is a strong-minded artist whose unapologetic figurative style is similar to the equivalent of witnessing a silk kimono-clad samurai committing the act of disembowelment right before your eyes. Magnificent viscera.
And yet the questions Barrioquinto brings to the fore somehow remains there, exposed, unanswered and remaining in an endless loop of despair. The classic figure 8 of dolor; a state of suffering, eternal condemnation in the Christian tradition.

Crane's Hatred, Andres Barrioquinto, Oil in canvas, 60x60 inches
Calling his latest show “The Gods of Small Things” references the Booker Prize-winning 1997 novel of Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things,” a tragic melodrama of love doomed from the very beginning by India’s inhumane caste system. Whatever motives Barrioquinto might have in referencing (or coincidentally recalling) Roy’s doomed tale, I can’t think of a more fitting literary cousin that touches on the futility of human will when pitted against bigger and darker forces.

Twilight Madman, Andres Barrioquinto, Oil on Canvas, 30x24 inches
Here is the crux of Barrioquinto’s art. Though he has somehow strayed, in recent years, into the more aesthetically appealing elements of his art, the (hard)core remains. To illustrate, the work titled “Twilight Madman” is a sinister portrait that captures the emotional zeitgeist of our times. A work framed with cool shades of blues, soft sweet pinks and the earthy, warmer brownish hues of vegetating/creeping flora. Dead centre is the piercing, cold stare of the Madman that confronts you, the viewer; unblinking and feral. Count on Barrioquinto, he delivers the goods.
In “Crane’s Hatred,” the human face is seemingly gashed with black barbwires, which in closer inspection are the negatives of flying cranes, a symbol of migration and seasonal change in Japanese lore. The view of the face (and averted eyes) is from a low angle, a perspective that prompts issues of spatial dominance, distance and control. Another repulsive state, a core of darkness.


Blissful Void, Andres Barrioquinto, Oil on canvas, 60x40 inches
Blissful Void is the lone ranger in the series, the artist taking a pause from the rigidity of the other portraits; a warm choco-coffee break with Barrioquinto, as if he has finally decided to drop his brush to snugly sit beside you for a meditation on warmth, furry familiarity, assurance and the anticipation of spring.
It is the oddity of small things where Barrioquinto superbly excels, and by that I mean the small things that we, the viewers, usually take for granted.
“Sometimes a dent could even emphasize the beauty of something,” Barrioquinto said in the gallery’s exhibit notes.
It is precisely his deep, unrelenting focus on the dent, seen and unseen, that Barrioquinto wins my full 10 votes. Catch this show when you can!

Andres Barrioquinto: Ode to the Dark and Deviant
By PAM BROOKE A. CASIN
August 2, 2009, 2:46pm
THE MANILA BULLETIN


When you read between the daring strokes and explosive hues, sometimes grotesque and always shocking imagery found in Andres Barrioquinto’s artworks, you’d most likely think Barrioquinto as the brooding, devil-may-care, and mercurial artist who is as threatening as the classmate who bullied you to no end back in high school or the intense classmate who kept only to himself—the one who scribbled desperate song lyrics in his black composition notebooks and drew cult-like and macabre images that scare the hell out of you.
Make no mistake, though, because the artist is neither. Well, he may have sported black from head to toe and long locks known only to rockers and guitar gods back in the day but you can hardly consider him exuding a death-like and renegade aura nowadays. He has mellowed down of late and has come to terms with himself, realizing that once time has ripened your wisdom and prompted your maturity—you’re no longer entitled to be the whiny and hostile person you used to be. This is true, at least, in Barrioquinto’s case.
But however laid-back Barrioquinto has become and however ordinary his get-up has been reduced to (no more gothic-inspired and grunge looks for this 34-year-old artist), his body of work has remained ever so feisty, edgy, and tart-tongued. Diverse and dynamic, his paintings are like hard-hitting bullets equally made sharp by his use of rich colors and made transfixing through the artist’s arresting individualized expression—gaining him raves from art connoisseurs and from casual onlookers as well. It helps also that Barrioquinto never repeats himself—an actually a good and bankable trait that should be found among artists today but one that is sadly rare.
Not one to be limited by a certain subject matter and style, Barrioquinto is all for experimentation. Continuously searching for different techniques and mediums, Barrioquinto, it appears, is in his peak of exploring all the creative possibilities there is for the sake of his passion. Depending on how his experiences turn out to be and how the world presents itself to him at the time being, Barrioquinto’s works showcase varying degrees of aesthetic sensibilities and paragons.
In fact, the University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines-trained artist has already rendered works using pen and ink, has channeled Picasso’s cubist ways in his portraits, has painted frightening pieces reminiscent those of Edvard Munch’s, has depicted constructs of death, sexuality, and morbidity in his works, has commented on constant politicking and the debauchery of the society in unrestricting fashion, and has juxtaposed texts upon deliberately distorted gritty images to name a few.
“My work is likely to be more sharply individualized than realist, therefore dramatically my own. Their individuality becomes more natural when I’m interested in probing my own soul rather than reflecting the world of ideas,” Barrioquinto explains of his introspective oeuvres.
“My paintings are like my diary. I paint what I see and feel. They chronicle my life and my reactions and reflections to it. I paint images so exaggerated or distorted that they take us away from the familiar world into one of emotion and feeling, at least that is my interest. In extremes, these expressions may even become hysterical or nightmarish,” he says.
Besides his personal experiences, his previous works, and other artists, also kindling Barrioquinto’s works and creative process is his love for music. You can strip the artist off of his black clothes anytime but it seems that you can’t take away his fondness for legendary and alternative acts such as Morrissey, The Smiths, and Jeff Buckley. Deeply struck by their poetry, Barrioquinto admits them as part of his influences who are never sell-outs (as he is never also). He muses about listening to their music and lyrics while painting for hours, as if in an induced trance.
And in a stupor Barrioquinto is when he paints and churns out his discourses on beauty and pain. Saying that he is not even fully aware of what he paints because his concepts flow smoothly from his mind to the canvas, Barrioquinto only wholly recognizes what he has created after a year or so, after he has rediscovered them. “I easily get tired of my paintings when they’re already finished. Madali ako magsawa. Kapag tumagal-tagal na, doon ko lang sila nagugustuhan,” he claims.
This is perhaps the reason behind Barrioquinto’s quick shifting from one subject matter and style to another. Even before he perfects a particular technique, his mind, he confesses, itches to play with another art-making method already, one that is new to him and one that will satiate once again his hunger for better self-expression. Barrioquinto teases us that maybe this is his talent—unafraid to test the waters no matter how violent and uninviting they may be.
This is the testament Barrioquinto leaves us with in his latest show at West Gallery. Titled ‘Idle Minds,’ the exhibit is the artist’s successful foray into a more solid and palpable realistic expression, abandoning distortion for most part and focuses on intricacy of details. Here, viewers can see the artist’s commentary on a Bible verse, which he stumbled upon: “idle minds and the destructive post-mortem effects of man’s evil deeds.” There are only two works in this offering but this doesn’t mean audiences would leave bereft from the show, as his opuses are large: one is six by eight feet and the other four by six.
What is left then now for Barrioquinto to paint, if people say he has painted them all? Barrioquinto quickly retorts that there are still many. Like a well that runs deep, the artist’s vault of ideas never runs dry, why?
“In painting, for instance, colors sometimes bleed together or overlap to create an admirable but unplanned effect, pencil marks or under-painting may unintentionally show through, enhancing my work. Surprises can crop up in any material I use, often sparking up new ideas.”
And in his words: “Kailangan mong magpinta para makapagpinta ulit.” So be it.
‘Idle Minds’ is on view until August 10 at West Gallery located at 48 West Avenue, Quezon City. For more information, call 411-0336 or visit www.westgallery.org.

In his upcoming exhibition, Andres Barrioquinto traverses deep into the soul of asian art and focuses on the detailed, colorful approach of early Japanese prints. And as Japanese art has been characterized within it’s unique harmonizing of polarities, Barrioquinto creates a dichotomy of his own through such portraitures of pain and suffering that he chose to narrate in a calm, relaxing manner. “Disorders make a person beautiful. Because when you have are not perfect, that’s when you strive to be. So basically, defect and beauty comes close hand in hand. And sometimes a dent could even emphasize the beauty of something.” Barrioquinto explains.

Do⋅lo⋅res [duh-lawr-is, -lohr-] a female given name: from a Latin word meaning “sorrows.” It is usually applied on contexts of mental pain and suffering.
Utterly Art presents Dolores, a one-man art exhibition featuring the portraitures of Andres Barrioqunto. Overall, this show presents a collection of different women, depicted in either a vast landscape or a lively kaleidoscope bed of flowers. According to the artist, the placement of his figures in such vast and remote scenery creates a certain feeling of isolation and loneliness. “I want to emphasize or somehow portray the effects of men or maybe the backwash of life in general towards women.” Barrioquinto says. Generally, his concepts for this show are inspired by all the women around her, from the youngest tramp strewn across the street to his very own birth mother. This is a tribute to them, for the scars and afflictions that life had left them with. It is highly noticeable that in this present batch of paintings, the figures somehow bleed a certain blanket of mourning to the human soul. “My paintings are usually dark and macabre, and they still are now, only in a different and more subtle sense of expression.” Barrioquinto quotes to end the interview.

The show opens at May 21, 2009 at Utterly Gallery, Singapore.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed”
-Mahatma Gandhi


We have always dreamed of the skies, and never, amidst all odds, be it human or divine, shall it stop us from the inexorable desire of conquering it. From the creation of Babel ’s colossus of bricks and asphalt, to the first ascent of Icarus to the clouds, and even to the construction of metal plated ships to soar the divinity that lies beyond the endless void of space, humans have not changed. The sky is actually an earthly symbolism of God, and it is God’s enigma that man wants to grasp and comprehend. It is only but a thin line that separates Lucifer the light bringer and God’s children, for both have been poisoned by the venom of greed. One desired to be God, and the other craved to know what God knew. And it is in this circular philosophy of insatiability that Andres Barrioquinto was inspired to generate a one man show entitled: “Everything towards the end”.

Focusing on a somewhat nihilistic concept of inevitable human destruction, Barrioquinto believes that the end is completely inescapable and everything existent is unknowingly marching towards their final moment of devastation. Whether they like it or not, no matter how much they try to improve their lives towards perfection and beauty, despite all the material things purchased to deceive themselves in a state of delusory bliss, everything else will wither into the orifice of nothingness, taking everything that they once owned into death and silent fading. It is within this reason that Barrioquinto rendered his paintings with simulated geometric patterns and realistic imagery depicted in a solid, cubist manner. Geometry is all about perfection, and basically, technology is our desperate bridge towards it. While on the other hand, the representation of his figures in an almost human manner is a way of redefining humanity through its flaws and imperfections. Therefore, the entirety of his works speaks for the marriage of humanity and artificial perfection. What results in is a bridge that stands to unite him to the outside world again. Technology, that is. And that link shall be his sole passage to the Tower of Babel ’s second birth. However, this time, man is not aiming for the skies. He is aspiring for what’s beyond it. But as the artist strongly believes, all this vain effort shall only be consumed by death in the end. Everything will fall, just as broken stones of Babel had fallen into wreckage. Everything will fall, like the shattered pieces of blue toned triangles regurgitating from and going into the open screaming mouths of his images. Everything will fall, even the intensity of colors into the dead tone of blue. Everything will fall, and everyone will.

As they say in Tibetan philosophy, Sylvia Plath sense of the word, we are all dying.

"Yes, we are all dying, but there is something beyond mortal death." Barrioquinto says. By this he means that something else exists behind the absolute closures of nihility. Something that is way beyond the compact reaches of human comprehension. After all, everything falls into the boundless circle of death and rebirth. So, in this death, we are only returning to our place of birth...the sole haven for God's eternal reward. Paradise, that is. And through good deeds and actions shall we reap this lost patch of land again. After all, the end has always justified the means, so if we have lived a life of good between existence and void, then another life of good shall be rewarded beyond it.


words: DAVE LOCK

Battlefield is actually a rendition of the soul’s battle within its own negative and positive states. The model, Bong “Bro” Garlitos, actually joked on a random conversation with me about his dream of going to distant lands or more preferably, different countries. This daydream occurrence actually came into materialization when the battlefield painting was bought by Alex frye and hanged on the top of her wall on Beijing not just as a decoration, but as an insignia of protection.

“I am so in love with this painting. He is my protector”-Alex Frye

It’s a dark world that Andres Barrioquinto has portrayed in his latest collection of works.

AZIA CITY MAGAZINE
By Belinda Wan














As everyone who’s anyone knows, this dog-eat-dog world is complicated and depressing—but nothing ismore disappointing or complex than the human condition. Humans are a tough act to follow, especiallywhen everyone is coping with their own (and others’) failings.

In the exhibition Strangeways, Filipino artist Andres Barrioquinto has drawn inspiration from the sordidness of human nature—sins, secrets, dirt and all. To fully appreciate the works in this exhibition,you have to cast your rose-tinted glasses aside—for unleashed in oil paintings before you is a disturbinglandscape populated with shady, sad and strange characters who are carrying their own personal burdens and displaying traits like greed, sorrow, and even perversion. Barrioquinto shares, “My paintings are a representative of my diary. I base them on my personal experiences as well on other people’s sufferings.”

In that spirit, you’ll find sad-faced characters gazing out the window, waiting for love (in “Send me someone to love”) and dour-faced men, women and children looking back at you. There are paintings about girls falling prey to the unsavory desires of the stepfathers (“The youngest was the most loved”),oppressed models being used as disposable, cheap tools by callous artists (“Suffer Little Children”),lesbians looking lost in thought (“The Beach”) and a sexually liberal mother ignoring the silent plea ofher child (“Mute Witness”). If all that sounds a tad heavy-going, the painting “No, Mama let me go” is aclever subversion of the classic “mother and child” paintings and depicts a fully-grown, suited man tryingto free himself from his mother’s overprotective clutches while still reclining lazily in her arms. It’s sharp,funny and ironic all at once, testifying to Barrioquinto’s knack for acerbic and stinging social commentary.

Aside from the barbed, critical slant of most of the works, Barrioquinto’s style is visually arresting. Hissignature fragmented style captures one’s attention immediately—with colorful fragments and segmentscombining to make up the subject’s visage against sobering backgrounds of blue, green and yellow. Butwhat is most striking about the works is the terrible sadness and sorrow that’s evident in the eyes of thesubjects, a sad knowledge that they are embroiled in a world that is too harsh for them. Yet despite thesqualor, there is a sense of hope—as the works are testaments that great art can emerge from the uglyside of the human condition. As Barrioquinto puts it aptly, “We live in a world of chaos and disorder.I am easily affected by people around me. And the feelings evoked by such events serve as my inspiration. I am a happy person. However, this world is a tragedy. And that’s what makes it interesting.”

Strangeways is on through Jan 27. 2/F, Utterly Art Exhibition Space, 229A South Bridge Rd., 6226-2605.Open Mon-Sat noon-8pm; Sun noon–5:30pm. Free.

For the first time, the chancery premises of the Philippine Embassy, in the upscale Nassim Road area of Singapore, played host to an exhibit of works by various Philippine contemporary visual artists led by Singapore-based Filipina Elaine Roberto Navas. Entitled “Ipinakikilala….. si Elaine, atbp. (Introduction to Philippine Contemporary Art), the exhibit aims to familiarize both local and Filipino community members to a new generation of Filipino artists steeped in the contemporary, avante garde and even in-your-face elucidations of everyday objects as well as the artists’ own struggle for identity.

Featuring seven (7) award winning Filipino contemporary artists whose works were provided on loan by the Utterly Art Gallery of Singapore, they include works by Elaine Navas, Pedro Garcia, Emmanuel Garibay, Winner Jumalon, Fernando Escora, Andres Barrioquinto and Roger “Rishab” Tibon. Elaine, a Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines and also a Psychology major from the Ateneo de Manila Univeristy, obtained the Juror’s Choice Awards at the Art Association of the Philippines in 1995. She has held many one-woman shows in Singapore, her adopted country.

Dr. Pwee Keng Hock, Managing Partner of the Utterly Art Gallery, sees the collection as drawing from the strengths of Filipino artists in figuration, with the individual artists offering their unconventional personal world view, unlike typical embodiments of Pinoy life.

Opening the show on 24 February, was Her Excellency Ambassador Belen F. Anota and the artist Elaine Roberto Navas. Dr. Pwee Keng Hock, Managing Partner of Utterly Art Gallery, shortly after, briefed the Saturday crowd at the Embassy with bits and pieces of intriguing insights into the artists and their subjects, in a walk-through of the exhibit. Made up mostly of members of the Filipino community who were at the Embassy for the regular montly meeting with Embassy officials, the community was pleasantly surprised with the visual feast. Many later shared that they felt provided with new perspectives in viewing and appreciating contemporary works.

The exhibit was opened on 24 February and will have a one week run that ends on 04 March.


Press Release
Philippine Embassy, Singapore
01 March 2007

Andres Barrioquinto (28) wordt een van de meest interessante kunstenaars van zijn generatie genoemd. Smaken verschillen natuurlijk, maar Barrioquinto is in ieder geval een van de meest gelauwerde. In 2003 was hij een van de dertien winnaars van de Thirteen Artists Awards, een prestigieuze prijs die iedere drie jaar wordt toegekend door het Cultural Center of the Philippines. De schilderijen van Barrioquintos zijn zowel surrealistisch als expressionistisch. Zijn schilderijen lijken een mengeling van stripfiguren en Egyptische hiëroglyfen, met duistere personages, vaak half mens en half dier. Een criticus die zijn werk omschreef noemde het 'schommelend tussen hilariteit en horror.' Morbide wordt het ook wel genoemd. Zijn thema's: verdriet, vergankelijkheid. (vermakelijk en eng) Barrioquintos maakt gebruik van verschillende stijlen en kunsttechnieken. Zijn werk bevat vaak ook tekst, zoals in zijn schilderij 'Dr. Evil's secret ingredients', dat behalve een skelet-achtig figuur van een hond, ook een recept bevat. De ingrediënten zijn bloem, paprika, zout en peper en hond. Barrioquinto is een typische exponent van de Filipijnse naoorlogse kunsttraditie, die gekenmerkt wordt door een mengeling van verschillende stijlen, technieken en materialen. De Thirteen Artists Award die hij in 2003 won, wordt gewoontegetrouw toegekend aan die kunstenaars die een andere kijk op kunst bieden. De prijs is genoemd naar een groep naoorlogse kunstenaars, die niets anders gemeen hadden dan dat ze zich afzetten tegen de dan heersende opvattingen over kunst.

Regionale kunst
Ook kunst die gebruik maakt van regionale thema's vindt waardering. Een goed voorbeeld daarvan is het werk van Charlie Co. Co, die door Andres Barrioquinto wordt genoemd als een van zijn grote voorbeelden, woont en werkt in Bacolod, Negros. De kleurrijke landschappen die de achtergrond vormen voor zijn vaak vervormde, surrealistische figuren, zijn suikerrietvelden. De diepblauwe luchten, grazige velden en de muziektent op het openbare plein, geven een beeld van zijn omgeving. Ook Co, winnaar van de Thirteen Artists Award in 1990, schildert in zijn vroegere jaren in een sociaal-realistische stijl. In 1986 richt hij samen met een aantal andere kunstenaars de groep Black Artists in Asia (BAA) op. Zijn werk is dan nog politiek, met als dominant thema de opstand van de boeren tegen het regime van Marcos. Na de val van Marcos verschuift de thematiek in zijn werk naar het persoonlijke, en zijn stijl is dan meer die van het expressionisme, met surrealistische kenmerken. Maar het maatschappijkritische element verdwijnt niet helemaal. Beelden van Japanse zakenmannen die worden gedreven door de zucht naar geld, miljonairs die zich verliezen in absurde fantasieën en vrouwen die zich vreugdeloos overgeven aan prostitutie vormen, net als de suikerrietvelden, een weergave van zijn omgeving. Filipijnse kunstenaars winnen steeds meer internationale erkenning. De ogen van de internationale kunstwereld richten zich definitief op de Filipijnen als een groep kunstenaars overgaat tot het collectief maken van muurschilderingen. Centraal hierin staan negatieve emoties, met thema's als angst, een gebrek aan verbondenheid, en het gevoel van isolatie in een stedelijke omgeving. De stijl is overwegend surrealistisch. Daarmee is de hedendaagse Filipijnse kunst uitgekomen bij wat zij nu is: dynamisch en vaak onrustig, misschien als een weerspiegeling van het politieke klimaat. Abstractie is niet langer de dominante stijl. Er wordt weer voornamelijk figuratief geschilderd, zij het niet op een idyllische manier, en met gebruik van geometrische vormen, zoals het werk van Ang Kiukok hieronder laat zien. De zoektocht naar een eigen Filipijnse aard, zonder de opgelegde tradities van de koloniale machten en met gebruik van inheemse materialen, heeft een bloeiend, springlevend geheel voortgebracht. Dat daarbij toch nog Westerse invloeden doorklinken, is onvermijdelijk en voegt alleen maar toe aan de rijkdom van het geheel. Filipijnse kunstenaars leven alleen in letterlijke zin op een eilan

Caption Above Painting – Filipino Artist Barrioquinto Solo Exhibition

Main Title – Reconstructing Surrounding Subjects

Caption Next to Title – Although Cubism has its origins in the West, its influence in Asia is far-reaching.
Philippine Artist Barrioquinto uses Cubistic techniques in his paintings to ‘reassemble’ subjects he has
encountered and experienced, expressing his own philosophy/views towards life.

(While) authors ‘write what they speak’, some artists ‘paint
what they see’ with minute details carefully lifted, examined and captured
in paint. Many of Andres Barrioquinto’s portrait paintings arise out of
his observation of the people surrounding him.

Barrioquinto is introspective, promotes vegetarianism, and fears
flying. In this exhibition of cubistic/realistic paintings, apart from
portraits of a young American artist he admires, and an alcoholic in the
streets of Philippines, there were portraits of a priest, friends, girlfirends
and ex-lovers.

At the period where his love relationship ended, he drew two
paintings representing ‘My Broken Heart’. One painting of himself with tears
flowing from his right eye, the other of his dissected heart placed in the
hands of his girlfriend.

He emulated Picasso’s ‘Blue Period’ with paintings rendered in
different hues of blue.

Subtitle – The Ugly Act of Meat Eating

As Barrioquinto promotes vegetarianism, there were paintings in the
exhibition depicting man and the ugly act of meat-eating with a well
ordered set of teeth of steel. There was one large painting of a seated
nude female body with a large cavity in the upper torso, with two pieces of
blooded flesh on both sides of the body to suggest the flesh as those of
the female body or a meal ready for consumption.

It was not difficult to see the heavy influence of 20th century
Cubism movement in Asia through the recent large scale exhibition at the
Singapore Arts Museum of Cubistic paintings in Asia. The Philippines has
produced several outstanding cubistic painters, with the deceased Ang Kiu
Kok most well known amongst these painters. Many younger Filipino artists
emulate the style of Ang Kiu Kok.

Subtitle – Not With Traditional Lenses

In their paintings, Cubistic artists seek to fragment, structure and
reassemble, viewing from all perspectives to see an event or
person, using a blueprint of [XXX] as a basis, human subject and scenery
are dissected and reassembled with [uneven building blocks] which differed
significantly from traditional Western portraits painted with [realistic,
3-dimensional perspective].

Apart from portraits, Barrioquinto similarly used [Cubistic
technique] to paint scenery. On his paintings, to avoid paintings that
appeared rigid, he said most of his paintings are constructed in his mind
and not sketched/painted immediately. Daunted with working on an empty
white canvas, he prefers to first draw out a blueprint on the canvas
using easily dried paints, followed by systematic, detailed completion.

Barrioquinto says he prefers working on large canvas and that
allows him to draw with details. As [Cubism] is different from
[Realism], the painting process entails the layering of colours
and to address the complete transformation of the painting.

THE DEATH OF A CHARMLESS MAN
mixed media on paper




Over nearly two decades organizing and accumulating experienced with the International Biennial Print &Drawing Exhibition ROC, the enthusiastic participation of contestants in each edition of the exhibition has resulted a submission from over 10,000 artists. In looking back and reflecting on our past successes, for the international invitational portion of the tenth Biennial we asked 118 former award winners for each submit one representative recent work to help us recall their fine arts achievements and inject new energy into the tenth edition of this exhibition, while further exploring the multifarious aspects of print art and its expanding position in contemporary art. Despite the partial loss of records from the past three Biennials and failure to get in touch with artists that had changed addresses, we nonetheless received enthusiastic responses from 77 former award winners, who agreed to provide one recent work each. No limitations were placed on category, including print and drawing, or materials, from traditional graphics to reproductions and installations. Together, we received 37 prints, 33 graphic works spanning oil paintings, ink paintings and mixed media, and seven three-dimensional works. In collecting together the fine recent works of former winners in the print and drawing categories from around the globe, the international invitational exhibit seeks to promote the exchange of worldwide arts and culture, and demonstrate the rich and diverse development of contemporary art.

By Nancy T. Lu







Screw and Nuts 1999
Mixed Media
110 x 75 cm

This work uses changes in rich color, supplemented by energetic black lines. The lower half of the body and the human head in the picture creates a strong impression and form a clear contrast. It is both therefore representational and abstract. The technique could even be called as skillfull.








Talented young Filipino to visit

Filipinos are not short of artistic talent. Creativity is something that they will flaunt naturally if given the opportunity. When the council for Cultural Affairs announced earlier this week the winners of the competition organized in connection with the 10th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition, 24-year-old Andres Santos Barrioquinto emerged as one of the eight most outstanding artists in the drawing category.

Barrioquinto’s winning entry was titled “Keep In Touch… Screw and Nuts.” The work – one of the 1,387 entries submitted this year—received an honorable mention. Each contestant was allowed only one entry. Using a mixture of techniques, this fine arts student from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila featured condoms in his award-winning drawing. Andrzej Glowacki, a Polish jury member, remarked: “The entry would appeal to the playboy.”
Barrioquinto would be invited to make a one-week all-expense paid visit to Taipei later this month, during which he collect his NT$50,000 cash prize.Along with other 15 winners - including eight in the print category – from different countries, he will participate in various activities to be capped by the awards in the ceremony, the opening of the exhibition and sale of the works, the proceeds of which will be donated to victims of the 921 earthquake.
“The entries in the drawing category this year were really of high quality,” recalled Liao Shiou-ping, a famous printmaker who acted as one of the judges in the final round of the contest.“Do you know that we had to carry out the judging seven times to arrive at a consensus? Throughout the judging, the identities of the contestants in their nationalities were keep from us,” said Liao.
Winning awards is not new to Barrioquinto, who lives in Quezon City. Only last year, he won first prize in the oil category in the Metrobank Young Painters’ Annual Competition. The same year he was awarded first prize also in the oil category in the Urban bank’s First Art Competition. He placed third in the representational painting category in the Art Association of the Philippines’ Annual Art Competition in 1997. This young and talented Filipino’s track record shows that he will go far his chosen career. Taipei waits for his forthcoming visit.

Andres Santos Barrioquinto’s “Keep in Touch…Screw and Nuts” has been picked from 1,387 entries to receive an honorable mention at the 9th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition in the Republic of China. Barrioquinto is the first Filipino to receive such a mention in the competition


China Post
Foreign Voices
October 10, 1999

By Cesar Barrioquinto

MY boy paints. He draws hideous people that judges seem to like. Last year they gave him citations and a third prize for his works. This year they awarded him two first prizes. No one taught him to paint. If you hear a kid singing beautifully, or playing the piano competently, you can almost be sure there's a singer or pianist in the house. There were no painters in mine. The first-generation Barrioquinto clan painted-if occasionally- but there was no one to look up to in the second generation. Nobody discussed art, there were no art books, and certainly no art pieces in the house save for three reproductions of an East German master that we lost for some reason. But he drew.

We paid him no mind, but we had some idea of what he might become when, at age 12 or 13-this was about 10 years ago-he sketched a picture of my mother-in-law that shocked my mom for its attention to truthful but unflattering detail. (Ba't naman ganyan? Wala siyang galang sa matanda!)

This ability to depict people in brutal fashion was his passport to college. His studies disrupted by two years of aimless shuffling in Hong Kong (where his father worked seven years as a journalist), he went back to his old high school and, distraught at being told to do three more years while his old classmates were set to graduate, he took the education department's college entrance test and then brought the result to the school where he eventually took up fine arts. There, his grade mattered less to the admissions people than the drawing they made him sketch on the spot.

People generally like his works, but he has critics. One said his oil-on-canvas that placed third in the Art Association of the Philippines' contest last year "couldn't shake off its pastel tones for the sake of compositional sincerity, contradicting its vie noire statement with affectatious [?] put-ons".

His cousin's art teacher said his oil-on-canvas didn't deserve the top prize in the first Urbanbank contest this year. Andres laughs off the criticism, but if you're a parent like me you tend to gravitate towards the more sympathetic people. His believers think otherwise. One says he is so good it is hard to compete against him ("Mahirap siyang kasabay"). Another describes his style as "figurative expressionism"; you have to be an intellectual to understand his paintings. I like the brief in Metrobank's souvenir program best: "This UST student is an admirer of the painter Basquiat. His winning work explores the variety of emotions associated with love and perhaps heartbreak. The multi-level, multi-frame format that he uses calls to mind a retablo. As such his work can be seen as a hierarchy of emotional states. One sees images of anguish, dislocation and even decapitation, perhaps a pun on 'losing one's head' because of love. The expressiveness of the colors and the shapes, so masterfully rendered, are reminiscent of the works of Munch." (1998)

He paints at night. He Paints while listening to head-banging music and drawing "petty and gossipy" neighbors, among other things. Some paintings take time and some none. It took him less than a day to put away one first prize winner this year and one month to complete the other, but the result has been the same pleasing distortion or images of "anguish, dislocation and decapitation. "

Attending the awarding ceremonies for a national painting contest recently, I had a glimpse of my kid's latest winning work for the first time and was floored by the colors. I wanted to take it home. I imagined showing it off to my dad and uncles who are all dead save one. It was like seeing the frustration of two generations finally laid to rest. I thought this kid was all right. But he's all right.

The Manila Times
lifestyle section
1998