February 2026 Art Agenda: round-up of exhibitions we’ve seen so far and not-to-be-missed ongoing shows

Another notable interdisciplinary show was designer Bang Pineda’s major fashion event, held at Tower One and Exchange Plaza in Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati. The show featured three acts—“White Noise”, “In The Gray”, and “Off Grid”—highlighting elevated streetwear, denim and existential themes. Adding to the conversation was the installation by Sandino Martin titled, Reflexiones Curiosi, where mirrored figures rose from the water, standing between presence and absence to signal lives left unseen.

Coincidentally, Martin was part of Qube Gallery’s show for the Tops Art Fest in Cebu, where he exhibited his more distinctive sculptural works based on his face and body, appropriating religious iconography and folklore.

Held in the scenic highlands of Cebu, Tops Art Fest established itself as a major cultural destination outside Metro Manila. On its second year last 2025, the festival adopted the theme of “Legacy”, shifting its focus from a general celebration of the present to a reverent homage to Cebu’s artistic pioneers, including Martino Abellana, Julian Humalon, and Jose Joya. Organised by Enzo Dino, the event transformed the hilltop venue into a sprawling gallery featuring over 200 artists and 1,000 artworks from 30 participating galleries. Beyond the visual spectacle, the festival fostered deep community engagement through a “Legacy Tour” that educated visitors on the region’s art history and a silent auction for the benefit of the Cristina Lee Dino Foundation.

Read more: Making modernity: a look into how Art Deco style permeated Filipino lifestyle

Speaking of legacy, the 2024 Thirteen Artists Award recipients held their exhibition from October 7 to January 12 at the Sandiganbayan Reception Hall of the National Museum. Curated by Mervy C Pueblo, the landmark exhibit honoured a new vanguard of Filipino visual artists: Catalina Africa, Denver Garza, Russ Ligtas, Ella Mendoza, Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan, Issay Rodriguez, Luis Antonio Santos, Joshua Serafin, Jel Suarez, Tekla Tamoria, Derek Tumala, Vien Valencia, and Liv Vinluan. Utilising diverse media, including video, sculptural installation, tapestry, and watercolour, the awardees boldly responded to urgent contemporary realities, exploring themes of memory, environmental collapse, and collective care. As CCP president Kaye C Tinga noted, the cohort was meticulously chosen to “redefine and provoke the social order,” transforming the gallery into a powerful space where fragmented histories and marginalised identities are insistently made visible against erasure.

Read more: Meet the 2024 Thirteen Artists Awards recipients

Back in Metro Manila, glass artist Marge Organo presented a refined exploration of light and form in her solo exhibition, A Look into the Prism, at the Galerie Joaquin in Rockwell. Serving as a visual companion to her newly launched monograph, the show traced her journey from early explorations to her signature balance of fragility and permanence. A standout element was Organo’s shift toward a more contemporary visual language, highlighted by Balloon Dog sculptures inspired by Jeff Koons and spiritual pieces that transformed Marian imagery into luminous forms.

Another Galerie Joaquin exhibition that left a strong impression was Carlo Magno’s 40th anniversary celebration of his artistic practice. Held at the Power Plant Mall branch, the exhibition Beyond the Muse: A 40-Year Artistic Journey challenged conventional beauty standards by celebrating the “Unconventional Filipina”—portraying women not as passive muses but as empowered, confident figures. Through a fusion of figurative forms and abstraction, Magno presented 40 original works that utilised vibrant colours and assertive compositions to explore resilience and identity.

Following the passing of Presidential Medal of Merit awardee Juvenal Sansó on March 28, 2025, Fundacion Sansó closed the year with a monumental tribute. Titled Prized and Personal: The Legacy, this exhibition ran at Art Lounge Manila to contextualise the launch of the most extensive book ever produced on the artist. The 464-page publication features over 600 full-colour images and rare interviews from cultural figures like Ambeth Ocampo and Cid Reyes. It covers his entire evolution, from his Black period to his iconic Brittany landscapes, offering an intimate look at the man who considered the Philippines his true home.

Read more: Juvenal Sansó: Master of Visual Artistry

Another thrilling show that lingered in our minds until it closed last February 11 was Cloudgrey Gallery’s Dialogo: Manuel Ocampo x Ronald Ventura. It was a historic collision between two of the country’s most internationally acclaimed contemporary artists that opened last December 9. The show was not merely a side-by-side presentation but a radical fusion where Ocampo and Ventura worked directly on the same surfaces—primarily large-scale works on paper. Curated by Ruel Caasi, the exhibition has been described by the gallery as a “Frankenstein moment” where a “third presence” emerges from the tension between Ocampo’s visceral, punk-influenced chaos and Ventura’s hyper-polished, virtuosic precision.

The process behind the exhibition involved a unique back-and-forth at the gallery, where one artist would lay down a digital print or initial layer, and the other would react to, build on, or obliterate it, resulting in works that neither artist could have produced alone. The gallery likened this visual energy to “Dead Kennedys jamming with Dream Theater,” creating an “unstable zone” of clashing aesthetics—Ventura’s sleek, pop-surrealist imagery grappling with Ocampo’s raw, anti-establishment symbols and religious iconography. Located at the Grand Hyatt Manila Residences in Taguig, Dialogo stood as a provocation that challenged the “logic of the market” by dividing authorship and inviting viewers to witness a volatile, layered conversation about contemporary life, history, and identity.

Meanwhile, Silverlens Manila kicked off the year with two powerful concurrent solo exhibitions. In Kahapon Muli Bukas, pioneering feminist artist Imelda Cajipe Endaya presented her second solo show with the gallery, anchored by the homecoming of her pivotal 1995 installation, Filipina DH. First exhibited almost 30 years ago at the NCCA Gallery, the installation features donated personal objects—such as battered suitcases and a crumpled blouse inscribed with the word “dignidad”—to confront the gruelling realities and sacrifices of Filipina migrant domestic workers. The exhibition situates this historic piece alongside her recent mixed-media works, which tackle contemporary issues like climate change and religious oppression while placing marginalised women, from precolonial priestesses to transwomen, firmly at the centre of the national imagination.

Running alongside it was Merging, Lou Lim’s third solo exhibition at Silverlens, which challenged and collapsed the traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture. Lim’s practice treats a finished canvas as a “field to be mined,” employing a highly physical, process-driven methodology. By applying and then peeling away machine-cut vinyl stencils that mimic the intersecting lines of human skin over painted skies, she creates a third, distinct artwork out of the removed layers, leaving the original canvases bearing the physical scars of their making. The resulting exhibition offered a profound reflection on materiality and process, navigating the tension between opposing forces such as the additive versus the subtractive, and the body over the landscape.

Another collaboration that caught our eye was Triangulum’s performance art festival at the Ayala Museum from January 26 to February 8, which coincided with Ayala Land’s 10 Days of Art. Curated by Vanini Belarmino, Mothering/Unmothering at the Ayala Museum offered a profound exploration of maternal care that transcends traditional biological definitions. The exhibition brought together 13 projects by 8 diverse artists—including Jane Jin Kaisen, Lynn Lu, and Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen—who utilised performance, video and installation to interrogate the complex cycles of nurturing, exhaustion and release. Rather than presenting an idealised portrait of motherhood, the showcase examined the fluid and often contradictory realities of caregiving, honouring the vital labour performed by single parents, grandmothers, and migrant domestic workers. Simultaneously, it shed light on the concept of ‘unmothering’, which encompassed necessary moments of detachment, refusal, and letting go. By transforming familiar public spaces into intimate sites of encounter, the project invited audiences to reflect on the immense physical and emotional labour embedded in the universal acts of both holding on and releasing.

Now, let’s round up current exhibitions you shouldn’t miss and other recent news in the scene as we continue to celebrate the new year and the National Arts Month:

Ushering in the 2026 Lunar New Year of the Horse, Conrad Manila presents Spectrum of Abundance, a timely solo exhibition of Lizanne Uychaco at Gallery C. Recognised as the Philippines’ first and only feng shui artist, Uychaco unveils a 24-piece collection curated by esteemed art connoisseur Nes Jardin as part of the hotel’s signature Of Art and Wine series. Running until March 21, the exhibition features richly textured mixed-media works that fuse ancient Eastern symbolism with modern artistic practices. Drawing from her Chinese-Filipino heritage and extensive multidisciplinary training, Uychaco heavily utilises the horse—a representation of freedom, perseverance and forward momentum—paired with her signature motif of the auspicious oriental coin, which symbolises the balance between heaven and earth. Together, these elements transform the gallery space into a contemplative celebration of harmony, luck and prosperity, offering viewers a visually striking and spiritually uplifting start to the Lunar New Year.

Open until February 21, Aurae II marks a profound exhibition for veteran abstractionist Augusto “Gus” Albor. Organised in a special partnership with Bocca and WWRS Philippines, the showcase expands the boundaries of minimalist art into a multi-sensory encounter, pairing Albor’s visual restraint with curated culinary experiences. With accompanying text by curator Carina Gaskell, the show explores the concept of “aurae”—the invisible mental, emotional and spiritual energy fields that surround people, places and objects. Albor masterfully distils these energies onto the canvas using muted colours and textures, creating works that function like fractals emitting their own distinct auras. Describing his process of playful experimentation as a form of meditation, Albor invites viewers to step into his contemplative practice, offering a quiet space to resurface and feel their own energies shift in response to the world around them.

Art Lounge Manila’s inaugural multi-gallery exhibition, Buhay Pinoy, was received well at Art Lounge Manila at The Podium (February 3 to 13), Galerie Francesca at Festival Mall (February 5 to 18) and Galerie Joaquin in BGC (February 7 to 17). It continues to run at Galerie Joaquin at The Podium (until February 22) and Galleria Nicolas in Greenbelt (until February 24). Buhay Pinoy is an expansive exhibition series celebrating the enduring legacy and joyful evolution of Philippine genre painting. Tracing its roots from early masters like Damián Domingo and Fernando Amorsolo, the visual language of the everyday Filipino experience is reimagined by over eighty contemporary artists—including Lydia Velasco, Michael Cacnio, Norma Belleza, and Francis Nacion. Through a vibrant collection of paintings and sculptures, the exhibit captures familiar scenes of family, faith, work, and community, serving as a powerful affirmation of cultural pride and resilience. 

As part of transforming Makati into a “living gallery” for National Arts Month, the “Art Walk by Ayala Land” has extended its free public art installations until the end of February. Made possible by a collaboration among Ayala Land, Inc., Ayala Foundation, Inc., Make It Makati, Circuit Makati, Ayala Malls, and Art Fair Philippines, the citywide initiative transforms everyday urban spaces into immersive moments of creativity and reflection. Audiences can wander through both the Makati Central Business District (MCBD) and Circuit Makati to discover a diverse lineup of works. In the MCBD, highlights include Fotomoto PH’s Underground at the Paseo Underpass, and Isaiah Cacnio’s digital Between Thoughts at Glorietta and the One Ayala Transport Terminal. Over at Circuit Makati, the creative footprint expands with Ronald Ventura’s Carousel, Leeroy New’s Untitled, Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan’s Taga Sta. Ana Ka Kung…, and the collaborative PROTEGERI: Creating Today, Protecting Tomorrow exhibit by Leeroy New, Solenn Heussaff, and Vito Selma, which will remain on view at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater until March 30, 2026.

The Metropolitan Theater opens the first of its National Artists exhibitions for the year, titled Portraits of a National Artist as Kultur Warrior, with National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik in the spotlight. Running until February 28 at the MET Gallery, it pays tribute to the life, advocacy, and enduring cultural influence of filmmaker and storyteller Kidlat Tahimik, a passionate champion of indigenous identity and decolonisation. Known for his distinct “crazy-artist” persona—complete with dreadlocks, a wispy goatee, and his iconic Bamboo Camera—Tahimik has served as a compelling muse to generations of creatives long before his official conferment. The exhibit traces a remarkable 50-year visual narrative through portraits created by various artists. Featured works include a 1973 painting by his late wife, Katrin de Guia; a 1983 editorial cartoon by Nonoy Marcelo; 1990s photography by Boy Yñiguez; woodworks by Ifugao carver Chris Atiwon; and even playful 2025 sketches by his grandchildren. Together, the collection reflects not just artistic interpretation but a deep reverence for a mentor affectionately called ‘Tatay’ or ‘Kuya’, whose work continues to challenge colonial narratives and celebrate Filipino identity.

Opened on January 16—as the country celebrated its annual festivals nationwide centred on the Santo Niño—Balaang Bata at the NCCA Gallery in Intramuros presents a profound exploration of the enduring Filipino devotion to the said Christological title. Led by National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairman Eric B Zerrudo, the exhibition brings together a diverse selection of images and sculptures of the Holy Child from across the country. Featuring pieces—many over a century old and carved from wood—sourced from private collectors such as Claude Tayag and Francis Ong, the show highlights how an object of conquest became a symbol of intimate, everyday faith. It invites visitors to witness the Santo Niño not merely as a religious icon, but as a tender, approachable presence deeply woven into the fabric of Philippine homes and traditions. The exhibition is open until February 28.

Marking its 50th anniversary, Galleria Duemila—the longest-running commercial art gallery in the Philippines—presents Avanti Sempre Avanti (Forward Always Forward), an exhibition celebrating the profound legacy and intuitive vision of its founder and art director, Silvana Ancellotti Diaz. Curated by Angel Velasco Shaw, the show is extended until March 28, and features 47 rarely seen artworks culled from the gallery’s vast collection and archives. Ranging from 1957 to 2018, the selected paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works represent 37 artists, including 12 members of the legendary Saturday Group, such as National Artists Benedicto Cabrera, Jose Joya, and Cesar Legaspi, to name a few. The exhibition traces Diaz’s deep cultural immersion since arriving from Italy in the 1970s, showcasing her early attraction to Philippine abstract, minimalist and expressionist art. Arranged chronologically, the artworks act as “musical notes in a lyrical composition,” transcending rigid categorisation to reflect a camaraderie of spirit and the gallery’s unwavering commitment to art that “speaks to the soul” rather than mere market value.

In celebration of National Arts Month, the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma (PKL) Center and Tin-aw Art Management are co-presenting imposed imperative, archival insistence: Brenda V. Fajardo in the scrapbooks of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma. Running until May 8, the exhibition explores the intertwining legacies of the late, highly decorated Filipino artist Brenda Villanueva Fajardo (1940–2024) and pioneering art patron Purita Kalaw-Ledesma. Through a compelling curation of tarot cards, texts, and scrapbooks, the show traces the well-worn paths of women who sought to historicise Philippine art, guided by Fajardo’s ethos of “nothing in excess, working creatively with what we have”. Fajardo, whose works have been internationally exhibited and deeply engaged with Philippine history, mythology, and socio-political issues, was also honoured concurrently at Art Fair Philippines 2026. Her presentation, “manifest,” which was featured in the curated ArtFairPH/Projects section at Circuit Corporate Center One from February 6 to 8, received much attention and became a major highlight for fairgoers. Audiences captivated by her highly talked-about Art Fair showcase can now deepen their experience of her profound legacy by visiting the ongoing PKL Center exhibition until May 8.

At the Pinto Art Museum, the works of Mark Justiniani continue to serve as a mind-bending centrepiece, challenging visitors to question the very nature of perception and reality. Known for his mastery of “magic realism” and his roots with the influential Salingpusa collective—championed early on by museum founder Dr Joven Cuanang—Justiniani’s installations often utilise mirrors, light, and deep, receded spaces to create the illusion of infinite voids. His art transforms the gallery into a labyrinth of spatial depth, pulling viewers into “tunnels” that seem to stretch endlessly into the ground or the walls, blurring the line between the physical object and the virtual abyss. These immersive pieces not only anchor the museum’s contemporary collection but also invite audiences to engage in a visceral dialogue about history, memory, and the “unstable zones” of truth, making them an essential stop for anyone navigating Manila’s art scene this month. The exhibition runs until May 24.

Currently on view at Museo Pambata is Dwellings, a large-scale, participatory installation by internationally acclaimed Filipino contemporary artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan. As part of the artists’ long-running In-Habit (Project Another Country) series—which originated in Sydney in 2010 and has since travelled to China, the Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea—the exhibition emphasises the importance of children’s voices in shaping conversations about home, place, and our shared future. Featured as part of the Art Fair Philippines 2026 VIP Programme, the evolving installation is housed in the museum’s reopened Hiraya Room, transforming it into a dynamic space for imagination, storytelling, and co-creation. To further engage with the community, Museo Pambata is hosting the Dwellings Cardboard Home Workshop on Saturday, February 28, from 2pm to 4pm. For a reasonably priced fee, which covers museum admission and materials, children (ages 6 and above, with adult supervision) and their families can design and build their own cardboard homes, trees, and structures to be directly added to the ever-growing “living city” of the exhibition.

After nearly three decades of shaping Southeast Asia’s contemporary art discourse across Singapore, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta, Gajah Gallery has officially planted its flag in the Philippines. Opening its doors last November 28, the new Manila space marks a significant milestone in the gallery’s mission to deepen artistic networks and foster cross-cultural exchange within the region.

Situated in the heart of Manila—a city recognised for its vibrant creative energy—the new gallery aims to serve as a dynamic platform for critical conversations, connecting regional artists with international audiences.

To celebrate this new chapter, Gajah Gallery Manila inaugurated its space with Confabulations: A Fantasy of the Real. Curated by Joyce Toh, the landmark group exhibition showcased an outstanding roster of 17 renowned artists with whom the gallery has represented or collaborated over the years. The powerhouse lineup included Philippine art stalwarts such as National Artist BenCab, Mark Justiniani, Charlie Co, Marina Cruz, Kiri Dalena, Kawayan de Guia, and Leslie de Chavez, alongside regional heavyweights like Jane Lee, Erizal As, I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, and Suzann Victor.

Confabulations revelled in the multifaceted forms of reality and realism, probing a central question: “What manner of realism can truly picture ‘the real’?” The exhibition explored how artists reinterpret and reimagine the world through varied approaches—from the surreal to the hyperreal, and from the social to the speculative. Drawing on the psychiatric definition of “confabulation”—inventing experiences that never occurred but are felt to be true—the show presented a potent metaphor for how artists navigate perception and truth in a post-truth world. As the gallery noted, quoting the well-known dictum, “Art is the lie that tells the truth,” the exhibition invited audiences into a shifting terrain of perception, where deeper truths are often illuminated through surrealism, abstraction, or fiction.

Following the success of its inaugural group show, Gajah Gallery Manila is currently presenting Halik Sa Lupa (A Kiss on the Ground), the latest solo exhibition by Filipino artist Leslie de Chavez. Running until March 1, the exhibition sees de Chavez returning to his native Quezon province as both witness and interlocutor.

Also curated by Joyce Toh, Halik Sa Lupa unfolds as a vibrant tableau of mixed-media installations, sculptures, and paintings. The works draw heavily on Lucban’s celebrated fiestas, including the Pahiyas harvest festival, Holy Week rites, and the Higantes (giants) parades. Through these culturally rooted and visually sumptuous pieces, de Chavez explores the intertwining of faith, excess, and endurance within a collective psyche shaped by both bounty and inequity. The exhibition probes the paradoxes at the heart of Filipino devotion: reverence and indulgence, sacrifice and spectacle, piety and performance. De Chavez seduces viewers through splendour—utilising gilded surfaces, vivid hues, and monumental forms—while simultaneously unveiling the tensions between faith and power, wealth and want. His sharp, empathetic vision exposes the dissonance between the abundance of the land and the deprivation of those who labour upon it.

Known for his incisive critiques of colonial legacies and institutional corruption, de Chavez views rituals and rites as both anchors and mirrors—ways of negotiating continuity while revealing underlying human contradictions. Notably, several works were created in collaboration with the people of Lucban, involving grandparents and children in the crafting and gilding of the Higantes and a golden bull. Other pieces were realised through cross-border collaboration at Yogya Art Lab (YAL), expanding the artist’s material vocabulary. These collective acts of making and reimagining become contemporary rituals themselves, reaffirming community and re-enchanting the ground from which they spring. In Halik sa Lupa, ritual becomes resistance, and creation becomes communion.

We end our rundown by going back to the worldwide celebration of Art Deco’s 100th anniversary. This year, NCCA pays homage to the influential style movement’s impact on the country’s lifestyle by releasing the calendar A Century of Art Deco in the Philippines. Conceptualised, designed and written by journalist and cultural researcher Roel Hoang Manipon, the calendar highlights 12 notable structures—one for each month—that showcase the enduring impact of Art Deco on civic buildings, educational institutions and residences across the archipelago. From the Daku Balay in Bacolod City to the Metropolitan Theater in Ermita (which also celebrates its 95th anniversary this year), the publication serves as both a timekeeping tool and an accessible cultural reference. Manipon’s curation underscores how Art Deco not only beautified the Philippine landscape but also played a crucial role in shaping the country’s vision of modernity at the turn of the 20th century.

NOW READ

Chloé Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’ review: an epic about love, loss and the spaces in between

On Valentine’s Day, you can acquire these rare works from the León Gallery auction for the benefit of ACC Philippines

Year of the Horse: why 1990-born stars like Yoona and Junho are still on top