_ ISBN 978 - 981- 07-2648- 5 PAPERBACK
978 - 981- 07-2649- 2 E-BOOK
ROLANDO “OLAN” C. VENTURA born in 1976 Philippines EDUCATION
Bachelor of Fine Arts University of the East 1998, Philippines SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 Face the Strange TAKSU Singapore 2011 Black Light, White Shadow - by West Gallery Ayala Museum, Manila 2010 Dark Light West Gallery, Manila 2009 Negative Light West Gallery, Manila Breathless Artesan Gallery + Studio, Singapore Toy Box TAKSU KL, Malaysia 2008 X-Paused West Gallery, Manila Xposed Big & Small Art Gallery, Manila 2007 Studio in Transit West Gallery & Big & Small Art Gallery, Manila 2006 Flat Reality (Extended) West Gallery, Manila Flat Reality The Art Center, SM Megamall, Manila 2005 Pinoy’s Idol West Gallery, Manila Plastic Realism Big & Small Art Gallery, Manila 2004 Family Portrait West Gallery, Manila Indoor Big & Small Art Gallery, Manila Couple The Art Center, SM Megamall, Manila 2003 Rental Space Big & Small Art Gallery SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2011 Mukha Glorietta Mall, Makati City, Manila 150th Rizal Pinto Gallery, Antipolo City, Manila Rogue Wave TAKSU Singapore 2010 Ma’Arteng Malabon Pescadores Restaurant, Malabon City, Manila 2009 9 x 12 West Gallery, Manila 2008 Sugbu Asdang The Art Center, SM Cebu City, Philippines / Gabriela Gallery, Mandaue City, Philippines / Blue Water Resort Gallery, Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan, Philippines Quarenta Cultural Center of the Philippines 2007 Mirror, Mirror Artesan Gallery, Singapore December Show Blanc Art Space, Manila Envy Big & Small Art Gallery
2006 December Show Blanc Art Space, Manila Dos por Dos Boston Gallery, Manila Alab The Art Center, SM Megamall, Manila Emerging Fires TAKSU KL & Singapore 2005 9 x 12 West Gallery, Manila Figuras The Art Center, SM Megamall, Manila Philippine Art Awardees Exhibition National Museum SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
2007 Most Outstanding Alumnus (Arts & Culture), University of the East, Manila 2005 Juror’s Choice Awardee, Philippine Art Awards (sponsored by Philip Morris) 2000 3rd Place, 17th Young Painters Annual National Competition Watercolor Category (Metrobank Foundation) 1999 Gawad Gintong Parangal ng Malabon 1998 1st Place, Shell National Students Art Competition / Exemplary Performance Award, University of the East / Artist of the Year, University of the East 1997 2nd Place, Shell National Students Art Competition / 1st Place, Commission on Higher Education Art Competition / Exemplary Performance Award-National Level, University of the East
All rights reserved. No part of this brochure may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior consent from the artists and gallery. Artworks and Images © 2012 Rolando “Olan” C. Ventura Editor Theresia Irma Essay Igan D’ Bayan Photography Olan Ventura, EJ Sabandal Catalog Design Jeffrey Lim / Studio 25 Printer Unico Services
TAKSU is a leading contemporary art gallery and specialist in Southeast Asia. Representing selections of fine art with distinctive urban edge, we are at the forefront of contemporary art in this region. TAKSU works to forge a platform for established and emerging artists to share their pool of creativity and knowledge through its residency programs and exhibitions. Encapsulating the true meaning of the word TAKSU; divine inspiration, energy, and spirit. Suherwan Abu Director, TAKSU Galleries
Olan Ventura wishes to thank Gigi C. Ventura, _ Igan D’ Bayan, and EJ Sabandal.
FACE THE STRANGE OLAN VENTURA
ISBN 978 - 981- 07-2648- 5 PAPERBACK
978 - 981- 07-2649- 2 E-BOOK
Chuck Cl o s e / o i l a n d a c r y l i c o n c a n v a s
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 24 4 cm c omposite / 2012
Imelda Mar c o s / o i l a n d a c r y l i c o n c a n v a s
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 24 4 cm c omposite / 2012
Jackson Poll o c k / o i l a n d a c r y l i c o n c a n v a s
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 2 44 c m co mposite / 2012
Steve J o b s / o i l a n d a c r y l i c o n c a n v a s
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 24 4 cm c omposite / 2012
Madon n a
/ oil and acrylic on canvas
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 24 4 cm c omposite / 2012
Michael Jac k s o n / o i l a n d a c r y l i c o n c a n v a s
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 2 44 c m co mposite / 2012
Salvador D a l i / o i l a n d a c r y l i c o n c a n v a s
/ d i p t y c h 1 5 2 x 24 4 cm c omposite / 2012
YOUR FACE IS BEAMING: IGAN D’BAYAN YOUR FACE IS BEAMING
Ruminations on Olan Ventura’s positive-negative portraiture
Scene one. Think of it as a lost episode of Lost: Artist Olan Ventura drops his cellular phone, something cracks and then something unfathomable happens. Like, say, all his photos become inverted and turn into their polar negatives, transforming skin into blue and eyes into ghostly whites. Meanwhile, in a parallel universe… Olan has a minor injury, has himself X-rayed, and — while waiting inside the purgatorial clinic, and while on the lookout for the tubercular, Skeletorlike doctor inside his office — has an epiphany of sorts while gazing at the lighted X-ray plate. Or. Olan is inside a dark room bathed in red apocalyptic light, listening to the backward chant in Tomorrow Never Knows, and suddenly a thought, a word, comes to him: “reversal.” That’s it… reversal. But the origins of the artist’s positive-negative paintings are a bit more mundane. In his latest show at TAKSU Singapore titled “Face the Strange”, Olan Ventura presents a continuation of a long artistic process that, although not as enthralling as the aforementioned vignettes, is as interesting and as enriching to hear for followers of Olan’s art. The domestic pawns have been left behind (“Rental Space [2003],” “Family Portrait [2004]”). The clowns have put down their revolvers (“Plastic Realism” [2005], “Pinoy’s Idol [2005]”). The ice cream and cakes are melting in the dark, all the sweet, bloody, fucking icing flowing down. Mister and Miss Mickey have grown up as cows. Now all that Olan has for his viewers are faces — all the long miles of them.
It gets heady from hereon. Literally. The positive image has been reversed into its negative, the “normal” into the subnormal, and the iconic has been turned into the eerie, the uncanny, and where the colors are astoundingly authentic in their artificiality. Everything, in a manner of speaking, has been turned on its head. Salvador Dali, Chuck Close and Jackson Pollock, whose oeuvres centered on subversion, have become models for Olan, who “subverts the subverters” in turn. Michael Jackson and Madonna, two pop culture icons, have been rendered ghostly — as if the outlines of their faces are blurring into degrees (just like the strains of their last hit singles).
Ruminations on Olan Ventura’s positive-negative portraiture
The strategy of Olan Ventura is to undermine portraiture in order to keep it alive yet unwell. And these are his new tools: a computer, a camera, a set of painting materials, and an inverse way of looking at the world. Just press Command + “i”. So at TAKSU, we will see Steve Jobs. We will see Lady Gaga. We will see the Mona Lisa. We will see Imelda Marcos. (If we’re lucky enough, we might see ourselves.) We will see them rendered in straight portraits, lit positively. But we will also see them under Ventura’s “negative light,” a phrase that should be haloed with a copyright or patent sign somewhere.
Igan D’Bayan is a writer, a visual artist and plays
bass for The Black Vomits.
During our epic drinking sessions at bars where God does not have a CCTV camera hidden somewhere and where there is virtually a new “Apple” every month (literally, figuratively), Olan has remained inscrutable about his artistic strategies. He merely shrugs everything off
He is based in Manila, Philippines.
as the natural progression of his grappling with graphite, acrylics and oils. His countless hours in the claustrophobic Calocan building where he has set up his studio. He belittles the art historic dimensions of his latest oeuvres. Portraiture has come a long way, but it always gets to a point where there is nowhere else to go. Until someone comes along and points the way. Rembrandt, Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud, Chuck Close and Yue Minjun, the guys before them and the guys later on showed not a few magical detours. The practice seems to overcome whatever snag it gets into. For Olan, he chose to dig elsewhere: not just beneath the skin, or under the surface, but with technology behind him. Very crucial. Since technology has become our contemporary crutch, helps us think, hear and see. We are like Tommy in The Who musical, and guided by gadgets we heed the electronic bleeps to Go to the Mirror! And this is what the artist sees in the black mirror. Skin takes on a lively dead color. Hair shimmers with an eerie blue. The colors are unnatural yet very real. The composition is literally in-your-face. It’s as if Olan Ventura is telling all of us there is still so much to plunder with that poker face of a genre called portraiture, there is still a new way of seeing old forms, or new methods in presenting old ways — or of maintaining a bad romance with good old reinvention. Oh well, whatever, never mind. So said Kurt. And what did David Bowie say? Ah, turn and face the strange…
KUALA LUMPUR
17 Jalan Pawang 54000 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia T +603 4251 4396 F +603 4251 4331 kl@taksu.com SINGAPORE
43 Jalan Merah Saga #01-72 Workloft @ Chip Bee Singapore 278115 T +65 6476 4788 F +65 6476 4787 sing@taksu.com BALI
W Retreat & Spa Bali Jalan Petitenget Seminyak Bali, Indonesia T +62 361 4738106 F +62 361 4738104 bali@taksu.com
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KUALA LUMPUR
17 Jalan Pawang 54000 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia T +603 4251 4396 F +603 4251 4331 kl@taksu.com
SINGAPORE
43 Jalan Merah Saga #01-72 Workloft @ Chip Bee Singapore 278115 T +65 6476 4788 F +65 6476 4787 sing@taksu.com
BALI
W Retreat & Spa Bali Jalan Petitenget Seminyak Bali, Indonesia T +62 361 4738106 F +62 361 4738104 bali@taksu.com
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978 - 981- 07-2649- 2
PAPERBACK
ISBN 978 - 981- 07-2648- 5
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