Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
Nude
signed and dated 2005 (lower right)
oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas
13" x 10 1/2" (33 cm x 27 cm)







Ronald Ventura is known for his contemporary take on a fusion of styles, ranging from realism to cartoons and graffiti. Ventura takes influence from Old Master Paintings, tattoo aesthetics, religious iconography and American pop culture. Ventura takes the layering of styles and images in his work as a metaphor for the layered and multifaceted national identity of the Philippines. With that, he creates works that are expansive and surreal, while referencing the modernday burdens such as communism, war and pollution. In an interview with Tatler, Ventura describes his art as a task “to liberate visual perception”. Contrast to his paintings and sculptures filled with imagery, Ventura strips down using graphite on canvas. Alice G. Guillermo explains his black and white works: “What makes it a blackand-white painting and not only a line drawing is the use of canvas for ground, its extraordinary range of tones, from dark grays to luminous whites creating the illusion of volume and perspective, as well as the richness of its significations.” (M.D.V.)