Ronald Ventura

As a leading figure in Southeast Asian contemporary art, Filipino painter Ronald Ventura is no stranger to local and international acclaim.

With hard work and uncompromising vision, he succeeded in melding realism, cartoon, and graffiti in scenes of chaotic disarray that references science fiction, Western history, Asian mythology, and Catholicism.

It’s the kind of work people are eager to pay for. Last June, his painting called Party Animals (2017), which features an image of a children’s party attended by forest and farm animals along with a couple of demons, sold for HK$19 million or over P123 million at Christie’s.

Despite the success, Ventura remains focused on his craft. “The dream is to finish a painting, and then work on the next one,” he says in a Lifestyle Asia story. “Being an artist is an existential state. It is not a profession.”