Philippine Tatler speaks with Ronald Ventura, who has broken the glass ceiling and reintroduced the modern Filipino artist to global awareness.
What do we really know about Ronald Ventura? We know he’s won several art awards and is one of the most successful Filipino artists in the world. He has received numerous awards including the Artist of the Year Award from Art Manila (2001), the 13 Artists Awards from Cultural Centre of the Philippines (2003), and the prestigious Ateneo Art Gallery Studio Residency Grant in Sydney, Australia in 2005 for The Human Study, his series of graphite works on canvas.
In 2012, auction house giant Christie’s said, “Ventura has distinguished himself as a compelling visionary within contemporary Asian art over the last five years. Hailing from a background of rich storytelling and mythology within the Philippines, Ventura has rapidly expanded his idiosyncratic visual outreach to create highly recognisable and lucidly spellbinding canvases.” Ventura’s reputation has earned him various opportunities to exhibit both locally and abroad. Philippine Tatler sits down with the world’s highest-selling Filipino contemporary artist to find out why many say he is well on his way to becoming a legend.
Philippine Tatler: When did you know you had a talent for art? Do you think it was learnt or inborn?
Ronald Ventura: You tell me. Around the time I was in kindergarten, when I was still learning the alphabet, I began to get hooked on [animation series] Voltes V, and began drawing Japanese robots on our door. Even before I memorised the alphabet [I was only up to the letter J] I was already drawing Voltes V. When I was in Grade 4, we were asked to write poems in school and accompany them with drawings. I was happy with the drawings I did, until I saw a classmate’s work. I was impressed and asked why it was different from mine. He explained that his material or medium was different. Only then did I realise that by using other media, like pastels maybe, artworks would look different from each other. So when I was in Grade 5, I took a summer art workshop under Fernando Sena. I also started using oils during my elementary years, and by high school, I was already doing commissioned works for friends of friends and family.
PT: Where do you get your inspirations from?