He has been painting since 2004, even as he kept a full schedule with one highly lauded design project after another in his capacity as the other half of the leading Budji+Royal Architecture+Design outfit. In almost two decades, his canvases paid homage to a variety of subject matters, from landscapes to figures and abstracts, not lingering on one but frolicking through all. “It is more because of the way I think,” Layug says honestly. “I get bored with one subject. In the beginning, I was doing figurative movements and then landscapes. This time, I painted abstracts.”

The artistic growth, however, is recognisable. He, of course, sees it too: “The technique is evolving, it is transitioning. But my sensitivity has remained, my art has not lost my sensibility.” 

Layug’s paintings, 34 from his early to his latest works, were exhibited at the B&B Italia Showroom (Bonifacio Global City, September-October 2021) in a show titled Budji Atelier. “Before the pandemic, I was already planning on this exhibit. As the health situation worsened, it became more and more difficult to continue with this project. But it gave me more time to work,” he says. In less than two years of the pandemic, he created 25 paintings.

Layug’s works are not small. At canvases measuring 4ft x 4ft or 5ft x 7ft, they need space to be viewed. And space, Layug found at the B&B Italia showroom at the Fort. “The venue was perfect. I had all three floors of space,” he says.

Another advantage was that his art pieces were hung around complementing furniture. “The furniture in B&B Italia gives the right background for my artwork. If you are doing your home, you can already imagine what artwork you may want to add to it,” he says.

In fact, this is exactly the kind of venue he would prefer to exhibit in. But maybe, find one outside the Philippines. “Exhibiting here is limiting because the tastes and sensibilities tend to lean towards certain traditional styles. I really would like to show my work in Paris, New York and the like,” he says.

On the agenda for the future is to live somewhere, elsewhere. “I want to live maybe in Morocco, or Greece, get a house there and paint. I am in that mindset right now. That I like to explore outside,” he expresses a dream.

That dream, however, looks like it’s concretising more and more into a plan. With determination in his voice, Layug succinctly puts it: “Let’s make it happen!”

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This article was originally published on the January 2022 issue of Tatler Philippines. Download the issue for free on Magzter.