Art Agenda: a round-up of gallery exhibitions this August to September 2025

The Ateneo Art Gallery showcased a preview of its 2025 Ateneo Art Awards (AAA) winners at the Shangri-La Plaza’s Grand Atrium. From August 9 to 25, guests were able to see a selection of artworks from the shortlisted exhibitions and browse the shortlisted essays. The full exhibition will be on view at the Ateneo Art Gallery from September 5 to December 7.

Meanwhile, the recently concluded Gesture in Time exhibition, curated by Janice Liuson-Young, at Faculty Projects in Pasig, brought together multiple generations of esteemed artists—Nestor Olarte Vinluan, Patrick de Veyra, Benjie Cabangis, Miguel Lorenzo Uy, Lito Carating, Carina Santos, Rico Lascano, ESL Chen, Rodolfo Samonte, Brisa Amir, Clarence Chun, Froilan Calayag, Paolo Icasas, Kelli Maeshiro, Billie Jean Chuaunsu, Aze Ong, Ronante Maratas and the curator herself. The exhibition remarkably showcased a critical dialogue between abstraction and representation.

The exhibition at Faculty Projects was immediately followed by the second part of the Japan-Philippines exhibition, A Wild Sea, curated by Patrick de Veyra. After showcasing its first part last June 12 to 21 at Kobayashi Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, the exhibition continued from August 14 to 26 in Metro Manila. Inspired by Matsuo Basho’s haiku of the same title, the poetic exhibition featured the works of Bjorn Calleja, Valerie Chua, Clarence Chun, Stephanie Frondoso, Celine Lee, Christina Lopez, Victoria Montinola, Raffy Napay, Sid Natividad, Gio Panlilio, Enzo Razon, Isabel Reyes Santos, Luis Antonio Santos, Soler Santos, Mark Jeffrey Santos aka Mister Sasquatch, Miguel Lorenzo Uy and MM Yu.

The Brut Collective marked a new chapter in its story with an exhibition at J Studio from August 2 to 16. The sophomore exhibition highlighted Reb Belleza’s turn towards invisible machinery behind human suffering, Ron Lopez Davis’s rendition of absence, and David Kaufman’s progress in exploring natural stone.

The last group show in our list of recent exhibitions was the Saturday Group’s 57th anniversary. Aptly titled 57, the premier artist collective’s exhibition reunited at Gallery BiG, Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong. It included the works of Ronnie Bercero, Franklin Caña, Daisy Carlos, Salvador Ching, Buds Convocar, Nida Cranbourne, Jonathan Dangue, Anna De Leon, Robert Deniega, Ysa Gernale, Maryrose Gisbert, Amado Hidalgo, Celeste Lecaroz, Francis Nacion, Roel Obemio, Carlo Ongchangco, Anthony Palo, Tessie Picaña, Omi Reyes, Joy Rojas, Eman Santos, Aner Sebastian, Sheila Tiangco, Magoo Valencia, Lydia Velasco, Joseph Villamar, Jik Villanueva, Migs Villanueva, Gene Artango-Villasper, Inna Nanep-Vitasa, Chewy Yap and Melissa Yeung Yap. 

The latest anniversary show demonstrated the Saturday Group's advocacy to provide a creative space for member-artists and share their works with Filipino art enthusiasts. “The anniversary exhibit is a continuation of the long-time tradition established by the esteemed pillars of the Saturday Group,” said current president Salvador Ching. The artist emphasised, “Solid pa rin ang Saturday Group [The Saturday Group is still tight-knit and active].”

Another worth mentioning is the launch of Project Panatag, an arts-based research initiative by the Artistic Research Center (ARC) of the Philippine Women’s University (PWU), in collaboration with Subjective Editions. The exhibition from May 21 to June 25 at the Yuchengco Museum, titled Feminist Cartography, amplified marginalised voices and reframed narratives through alternative mappings and visual storytelling rooted in feminist and community-based perspectives.

The exhibited maps were outputs from the initial participatory workshop with PWU students, subsequent workshops held at Orange Project (Bacolod), Casa San Miguel (Zambales) and with fisherfolk in Masinloc, showcasing their early reflections and creative interpretations to come up with a “Subjective Atlas of the Philippines”.

Lastly, SM Aura transformed into a vibrant hub of creativity from August 15 to 24 with Art in Aura: Visions Made Visible, a collaborative art showcase in partnership with Galerie Francesca Group and Sunshine Place. Mallgoers immersed themselves in the works of both emerging and established Filipino artists, which included paintings, sculptures, photography, multimedia pieces, and art-inspired merchandise, alongside immersive, hands-on creative experiences.

The momentous exhibition coincided with SM Supermalls’ 40th anniversary and Galerie Francesca Group’s 20th anniversary, highlighting nearly 35 artists from various backgrounds.

For solo shows, Richard Arimado exhibited his oeuvre that operates with a language that is both whimsical and culturally resonant. Galerie Joaquin in Rockwell, Makati featured his show, Chronicles, where Arimado showcased paintings centred on communal life, drawn from the quotidian rhythms of the Filipino experience, and exude affectionate stylisation of realism that foregrounds the spirit of community, nostalgia, and the aesthetics of the everyday.

There are still more exciting shows for art lovers and collectors to see around Metro Manila. Here are some of the shows we don’t want you to miss:

Oliver Marquez’s sixth solo show presents his most divinely inspired works, revealing the artist’s extraordinary spiritual insight, channelling divine blessing into compositions of transcendent beauty.

Marquez was born into a family of artists in Angeles City in the Seventies. Their family’s artistic work involved drawing scales and wildlife to sell as tourist art. However, due to the Mt Pinatubo eruption, they were forced to move to Malolos, Bulacan. Oliver aspired to study fine arts, but his family could not afford it, so he pursued drafting at Bulacan State University instead.

He eventually opened a sign shop and did not paint for ten years until a friend encouraged him to start painting again in 2011. He participated in art competitions and achieved notable success, winning three grand prizes from PAGCOR, AAP on-the-spot contest, and Gov Emilio Ramon Pelayo Ejercito III’s Pagsanjan Art Competition.

This exhibition will be on view from August 20 to September 2 at the Artistspace, located at Ground Level, Ayala Museum Annex, Makati Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City

The Asian Cultural Council Philippines (ACCP) has partnered with the National Museum to host Layers and Shadows, an exhibition showcasing the works of multifaceted artist Demi Padua.

As part of ACCP’s series of special events this year to celebrate its 25th anniversary, this event not only highlights Padua’s exceptional skill but also supports ACCP’s mission to foster cultural exchange and development through the ACC Philippines Fellowship Program.

The donation and assistance from the DF Art Agency (which manages Padua), the artist himself, and the benefactor, The Good Hope Future Foundation, will directly support the ACC Philippines Fellowship Program. The programme aims to advance the careers of Filipino artists, scholars and cultural practitioners by providing opportunities for growth and international collaboration.

This exhibition will be open to the public from August 13 to 26 at the Sergio Osmeña Hall, National Museum of Fine Arts

Read more: Demi Padua proves that talent and skill are two different things

Fundacion Sansó, in cooperation with Kenneth Montegrande and Galerie Joaquin, presents Lines of Legacy, a solo show of Kenneth Montegrande in honour of the memory and legacy of acclaimed artist Juvenal Sansó. This marks the museum’s first guest artist exhibition since Sansó’s passing on March 28, and allows Montegrande to extend support to the foundation’s mission. In this heartfelt homage, Montegrande mirrors two of Sansó’s most beloved themes—flowers and seascapes—with his own distinct vision. Proceeds from Lines of Legacy will benefit Fundacion Sansó’s Fine Arts Students Scholarships and Grants Program.

This exhibition runs from August 18 to September 1 at Fundacion Sansó, 32 V Cruz Street, Brgy Sta Lucia, San Juan

Read more: Fundacion Sansó welcomes art lovers to its refurbished spaces and invites more to join its growing community

Following Gallery BiG’s Saturday Group’s anniversary exhibition, Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong mounts another landmark exhibition, celebrating the extraordinary creative legacies that have shaped Philippine art and culture.

In the Shadow of Great Light, curated by Ricky Francisco of Fundacion Sansó, transforms the mall’s East Atrium into an immersive space that brings together rarely seen and widely celebrated works by the country’s National Artists for Visual Arts. It includes the works (some of which make their public debut) by Abdulmari Imao, Ang Kiukok, Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera, Arturo Luz, Jerry Elizalde Navarro, Vicente Manansala, Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Victorio Edades, Cesar Legaspi, Federico Alcuaz, Fernando Amorsolo, Francisco Coching, Guillermo Tolentino, HR Ocampo, Jose Joya, Larry Alcala and Napoleon Abueva.

This exhibition is open to the public with free admission from August 25 to 31 at Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong

Acclaimed Venezuelan visual artist Jonidel Mendoza, known for his mixed-media works that explore the liminal space between being and becoming, mounts a solo exhibition at Galleria Duemila, featuring seven paintings and three sculptural installations. His exhibition, titled Shadows Between the Lines, traces the outlines of identity, memory and human connection through silhouettes, textures and translucent layers. Mendoza’s lyrical and poetic exhibition invites viewers to pause, observe and inhabit the subtle spaces between light and shadow, presence and absence.

This exhibition runs from June 21 to September 6 at Galleria Duemila, 210 Loring Street, Pasay City

In this compelling exhibition, Pepe Delfin confronts the complexities of trauma through her mastery of geometric abstraction. The exhibition title borrows from Mary Oliver’s The Kookaburras, referencing three potent metaphors that encapsulate the tension between containment and liberation. Co-presented with Lunas Collective, the exhibition showcases Delfin’s utilisation of abstraction to explore how trauma alters one’s capacity to communicate. Her visual language relies on circumlocution in expressing such ordeals. One would discover through her deconstruction of line, colour, and form that she anatomises psychological and physical distress without resorting to literal representation.

This exhibition is on view from July 26 to September 7 at MONO8, Block 113, 53 Connecticut Street, Greenhills, San Juan City

Read more: How Lunas Collective is building a community that balances productivity and rest—before reaching burnout

Silverlens Manila has two exhibitions you shouldn’t miss. First is A Knowing, an intergenerational exhibition featuring three women artists: Geraldine Javier, Emily Cheng, and Citra Sasmita. Second is Yasue Maetake’s first solo show in the Philippines, titled Mare Fecunditatis, which is named after a lunar mare, a large dark, basaltic plain in the eastern half of the moon.

A Knowing presents Javier’s Two Fridas (2021), her take on the late great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s garden. Her installation features elements of nature from Kahlo’s paintings, making it a stage for the visitor, much like Kahlo’s garden was a stage for herself. Meanwhile, Chinese-American artist Cheng presents a suite of landscape paintings in this group show, where forms capture and illustrate feelings. Lastly, Balinese artist Sasmita uses the symbolism of fire for purification, water for knowledge, hair for female genealogical connections, and blood for the cycle of life in transforming the hypermale conventions of Karmasan paintings into women’s stories.

Tokyo-born artist Maetake, who lives and works in New York City, invites everyone to her inaugural exhibition in Manila, where she showcases six sculptures made of her proprietary blend of calcium, other minerals, polymers derived from marine organisms, animal bones, fossils and various gemstones, finished using stone-polishing techniques.

The exhibitions are open for viewing from August 23 to September 27 at Silverlens, 2263 Don Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City

In collaboration with the Japan Foundation Manila, the UP Vargas Museum presents the Japanese art duo Kyunchome in the exhibition All Living Things are Breathing Now.

Kyunchone brings their exhibition project to the university, comprising works they developed and created while living in coastal towns in the Visayas region in the Philippines. The beginnings of the duo’s artistic practice are rooted in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent explosions at the nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan. Since then, they have sought to understand the relationship between nature, human beings and the non-human, charting a complex, enmeshed network of flourishing and survival. The ebb and flow of these forces shape the rhythms of life, or what remains of it, making them a fitting seismograph of life in the future.

This exhibition will be on view until August 30 at the 1/F Galleries of the UP Vargas Museum, inside the University of the Philippines Diliman campus

NOW READ

Reimagining the narratives of the past: the UP Vargas Museum highlights works by Lee Paje and Ampannee Satoh

Ames Yavuz opens its new London gallery with a thought-provoking exhibition of Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan

National Gallery Singapore introduces shifts in perspectives through its Zóbel exhibition and more