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Text: Ricky Francisco
Layout Design: Carlo Abello
Cover: Noy Bedaña
KENNETH JOHN MONTEGRANDEis Kenneth Montegrande’s 16th solo exhibition, and it is the culmination of a year-long celebration of his first decade in the visual arts. Tracing his encounter with abstract art a decade ago as a media strategist, Montegrande recalls seeing the paintings of Pancho Piano, Al Perez, Nemi Miranda, and other artists at an Intramuros Administration event he was handling; and having the immediate urge to paint as soon as he went home. Compelled, he painted his first works upon reaching home despite his lack of exposure and training.
Hanging out with his professional painters, he was able to mount his first exhibition months later, “Juan HeART, One Nation”, his first solo and fundraiser to aid victims of super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) with the help of his friend who was connected with the Olive Bistro, a café restaurant which was conveniently near his home. This would be a recurring pattern with Montegrande over the decade – art as a way not just of earning, but of giving back.
The year-long celebration of Montegrande’s first ten years in art is a series of solo exhibitions that kicked off with A Decade of Montegrande at Art Lounge Manila, where he followed the pattern he started in his first solo exhibition. Like it, Montegrande expressed his relationship with God through helping out the “least of his bretheren.” In this case, by donating almost half a million pesos of his sales to Escuela Taller de Filipinas Foundation Inc for their advocacy of equipping willing street children and disadvantaged youths with skills to restore built heritage as their means of livelihood thereby pulling them out of poverty. This is Montegrande’s way of giving thanks for the gift of life, family, health, and art; and expressing his camaraderie with the disadvantaged, as like them, he knew what it was to earn a living on the streets, for as a child, he has experienced selling kakanin and other traditional food in the streets of Manila, to have money for his baon at school. In this exhibition, Montegrande retrospects on what has propelled him forward to achieve the various milestones in his artistic career, such as the recognition for being the first Southeast Asian artist whose works are housed in the prestigious collection of Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese tycoon and mega art collector who founded and currently directs the Contemporary Arts Foundation. In this collection, his work is in the company of a record-breaking Basquiat, as well as select works of internationally renowned artists like Bruce Nauman and Alexander Calder. Another milestone was being the youngest artist to exhibit at the Malacanan Palace Museum and be included in its prestigious collection for his works Transfigurings of Freshest Blue and Perla del Mar de Oriente. And being featured guest artist in museums like Fundacion Sanso, where he has had the honor of exhibiting with Presidential Medal of Merit Juvenal Sanso, within his first decade was a recognition of his achievements.
In his first exhibition to mark his first decade, he presented bold gestural abstract works which he developed partly inspired by Jackson Pollock, JMW Turner and Willem de Kooning, as well Rembrandt and Monet. Gestural, and with thick impastos of solid primarily colors set upon neutral browns, dark greens, and whites, focused mainly in the center, the abstract works he presented are the mature form of the early works he exhibited in his first five solo exhibitions, but which now have boldness and great sense of composition that contribute to their power as works of art. We see the assertion of the artist in his work and his confidence in his abilities as an artist.
This solo exhibition was followed by Symphonies of Seas and Skies at Altromondo Contemporanea, expressing that feeling of smallness in relation to the greatness of the Divine through a series of seascapes and cloudscapes. Though following the same powerful elements as his abstract works, with drama highlighted in the push and pull of warm and cold colors, and a deliberate use of impasto to highlight the drama between light and dark, Montegrande’s seascapes and skyscapes have the opposite effect: a submission to something greater. These works are a constant reminder to him for the need to introspect to see the Divine in his daily life. Montegrande shares in an earlier interview, “Though my cloudscapes are mostly dark, you can see, in stark contrast, the glimmering light behind the clouds. The darkness amplifies the light. It is my expression of hope amidst despair. Through my faith, I choose to hope as I know darkness will have to give way to light.” He continues with a then pressing issue brought upon by the pandemic and the closure of businesses throughout the period, “While I was painting this, I had other concerns. I had some business that I could have closed, to cut down on loses, but there are people I employ. How will they fare, if I chose to close things down? I just held on my faith, and painted, and continued with my business. Thankfully, things worked out. With God there, they always do.”
His personal recognition of the positive influences of sincere friendships forged through art within his first decade was the subject of his next solo exhibition, Magical Harmony with Artes Orientes at ManilArt 2021. Like the title suggests, his synergy with fellow artists and his collectors and supporters brought wonders in his life for which he was truly grateful for.
His unfathomable gratitude for being alive through Great Expectations at Galerie Joaquin BGC, another sold-out exhibition which is a common occurrence the much in demand artist, was a fitting celebration for recovery after a near fatal bout with COVID-19.
In this celebratory exhibition as it was on his birthday, he reaffirmed
his commitment to his family, friends, supporters, and ultimately, his art; recognizing that with all this grace comes a responsibility to use the gifts he has not only for self-gain, but to glorify the source of his talents, and to help others tangibly and to inspire others to commit to their own personal calling. In a world emerging from the clasps of COVID-19, Montegrande shares renewed hope in a very personal way through his artworks for the exhibition.
Soon after, Montegrande broke into his first international exhibition with Expanding Horizons at the Philippine Center in New York. This was also a way of connecting with his family, who mostly have settled in America, and to express his peace at remaining in the Philippines, despite being separated from them, to pursue a life in Art. And this was his way of encouraging others like him to never give up on their dreams as there were many challenges to his artmaking along the way, which included uncertainties and the disapproval of some of the people who were closest to him. Despite these challenges, he continued his commitment to expanding his artistic horizons.
Love Beyond Words, his 16th solo exhibition culminates this year-long series of solo exhibitions to mark and celebrate his first decade as a painter. In this solo exhibition at ManilArt 2022, with Galleria Nicolas are 21 paintings comprising of six abstracts and fifteen of his coveted cloudscapes and seascapes. As with most of his exhibitions, the works are as much as a testament of faith, as they are personal expressions of his artistic vision.
Of his first decade, Montegrande recognizes the role of his relationship with God as one of Love Beyond Words. In the many tribulations he has faced, faith was a constant; as well as in the achievements which he attributes as blessings.
His role as an artist is affirmed not only as an expression of his inner person, but as an outward responsibility to his family and those who rely on him, as well as fellow artists, particularly those who are just starting, as well as to the less fortunate. As with previous exhibitions, he intends to once again share a percentage of his
earnings from this exhibition to a fishing community that he has been acquainted with, finding that their simple way of life and their attitude to work and to people in general, are worth supporting.
In this end of a decade, Montegrande retrospects on what he has achieved with faith, and with the attitude “wala naman mawawala. Basta kaya ko, gagawin ko.” As he paints, his mind is focused, and his soul brought to peace. He relates that in his heart, is the singular prayer ‘I know You still have blessings for me, ‘di ko alam ‘to, pero excited ako. I hope you would continue to use me and my works to send your message and goodness to Your people.”
While the exhibition is ongoing, Montegrande has already shared the next step for him. On the first half of 2023 is a solo with Galerie Joaquin that doubles as a book launch. As a sign of his commitment to his collectors, he will publish the works he has made thus far, and document them in book form. Plans are also in the way to do a reprise of his fundraiser to help bolster the young artists’ scholarship fund of Fundacion Sanso, to which he has donated in 2020 a fund enough to sustain several scholars.
If the past decade is used as an indication, for Montegrande, the gift of art which he has been blessed with is not just a matter of creating works, but using it for the betterment of others. It is no doubt why many support him in continuing his art and that he is bound to be even better at it.
Light’s
Peace from Within 18 x 24 in Acrylic on Canvas
is a self-taught Filipino abstract painter, a former PR strategist, and event organizer. He is also a former official spokesman of the Department of Tourism for the National Parks Develop ment Committee.
His foray into the arts started in 2012 while working as the events and media strategist of the Intramuros Administration, an attached agency of the Department of Tourism, concurrent with his role as the spokesperson for the National Parks Development Committee, also un der DOT. He was asked to lend a hand in the Intramuros Arts Festival of the Intramuros Visual Artists Philippines, composed of senior artists such as Pancho Piano, Egay Fernandez, Nemi Miranda and Al Perez.
His works are also influenced by Jackson Pollock, well-known for his unique style of drip painting; and Willem de Kooning, who is known to have developed a radically abstract style of painting that fused Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism.
Numerous achievements have been attained by Montegrande. Aside from being the first Southeast Asian artist whose works have been collected by Japanese billionaire and dis tinguished art collector Yusaku Maezawa, the recent turn-over of his commission works at the Malacañang Palace Museum and Library makes him the youngest Filipino artist whose works are part of the permanent collection of the Malacañang.
