Ronald Ventura Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1973 -

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            • RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973). STATE OF BLOOM. oil on canvas 243.8 x 365.7 cm. (
              Sep. 26, 2024

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973). STATE OF BLOOM. oil on canvas 243.8 x 365.7 cm. (

              Est: $1,800,000 - $2,800,000

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973). STATE OF BLOOM. oil on canvas 243.8 x 365.7 cm. (96 x 144 in.).

              Christie's
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Figure - Front)
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Figure - Front)

              Est: ₱140,000 - ₱160,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Signed and dated indistinctly (lower left) Oil on canvas 23 x 23 cm (9 x 9 in)

              Salcedo Auctions
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Figure - Back)
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Figure - Back)

              Est: ₱110,000 - ₱130,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Signed and dated '2004' (lower right) Mixed media on canvas 20.5 x 15.3 cm (8 x 6 in)

              Salcedo Auctions
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Second Skin
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Second Skin

              Est: ₱12,000,000 - ₱15,000,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Signed and dated '2009' (lower right) Oil on canvas 213 x 152 cm (84 x 60 in) Literature: Realities: Ronald Ventura, Grafiche Damiani, 2011, p. 76 Isabel Ching, et. al., Without Walls: A tour of Philippine Paintings at the turn of the Millennium, Winrum Publishing, 2010, p. 24, 27 Exhibition: Metaphysics of Skin, 17 September - 31 October 2009, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York City, United States Ronald Ventura masterfully captures the dynamic and multifaceted nature of modern life, seamlessly blending socio-anthropological insights with a range of artistic styles, from comic book aesthetics to chiaroscuro. His work delves deep into the underlying tensions and contradictions of human experience, establishing him as one of the most compelling artists of his generation. One of Ventura's notable works, 'Second Skin,' was featured in 'Metaphysics of Skin,' his debut solo exhibition at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York in 2009. In this piece, Ventura's technical virtuosity and emotional depth are on full display. It marks a transitional phase in his career, where elements of pop culture and punk aesthetics begin to merge with his signature hyperrealism. The effect is so striking that viewers can almost imagine perspiration seeping from the pores of the hooded figure. Ventura uses the concept of skin as a metaphor to explore the layered complexities of Filipino identity. He examines how historical influences from Spanish, Japanese, and American colonialism, combined with indigenous traditions, have shaped a multifaceted and sometimes conflicted national identity. In Second Skin, the stark contrast between a monochromatic figure and vibrant, colorful graphic elements creates a visually arresting effect. The work reveals multiple layers of cultural and personal significance, with skin symbolizing the dual nature of identity--both hidden and expressed. References: Realities: Ronald Ventura, Grafiche Damiani, 2011 Isabel Ching, et. al., Without Walls: A tour of Philippine Paintings at the turn of the Millennium, Winrum Publishing, 2010, p. 24 - 27

              Salcedo Auctions
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled

              Est: ₱1,200,000 - ₱1,300,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Signed (lower left) and dated (lower left, obscured by the frame) Oil on canvas with artist's frame With frame: 83 x 73 cm (32 3/4 x 28 3/4 in) Without frame: 39 x 29 cm (15 1/4 x 11 1/4 in)

              Salcedo Auctions
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Face)
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Face)

              Est: ₱100,000 - ₱120,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Signed and dated '2004' (lower left) Mixed media on canvas 15.3 x 15.3 cm (6 x 6 in)

              Salcedo Auctions
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Nude)
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Untitled (Nude)

              Est: ₱100,000 - ₱120,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Signed and dated '2004' (lower left) Mixed media on canvas 15.3 x 15.3 cm (6 x 6 in)

              Salcedo Auctions
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Transpose
              Sep. 14, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Transpose

              Est: ₱700,000 - ₱910,000

              Transpose signed and dated 1999 (lower left) oil on paper 25 1/2” x 15 3/4” (63 cm x 38 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot WRITE UP “The human anatomy has fascinated me ever since I was a child,” Ronald Ventura said in a 2011 interview for his show at Tyler Rollins Fine Art in New York. This fascination for the human body followed him well into his adulthood and even bled into his art – throughout the years, Ventura has developed a predilection for depicting the human body juxtaposed against dark images. In his 1999 Transpose, Ventura expertly manipulates shadows and depth as he depicts a man hanging upside down in an apparent approximation – though not a faithful replication – of The Hanged Man, with his hands wrapped around a knee. His face is upturned and his eyes are closed, denoting the man’s despair, his trials, and his self-sacrifice. “[The] basis of [Ventura’s] art is his mastery of the anatomy,” writes critic Alice Guillermo in Human Study and the Politics of Gender as recalled in the book Realities: Ronald Ventura. “He has assumed the capability of distorting the human body, clothed or unclothed, or of morphing it in the most unexpected ways.” (Hannah Valiente)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jul. 27, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱600,000 - ₱780,000

              a.) Untitled signed (upper right) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) b.) Untitled signed (lower right) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) c.) Untitled signed and dated 2001 (lower left) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) d.) Untitled signed (lower right) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) e.) Untitled signed and dated 2005 (lower left) oil on paper mounted on canvas 7" x 4 3/4" (18 cm x 12 cm) f.) Untitled signed (lower left) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) g.) Untitled signed (upper left) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) h.) Untitled signed (lower right) pen and ink on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 5 1/2" (15 cm x 14 cm) i.) Untitled signed and dated 1998 (lower right) graphite on paper mounted on canvas 9 1/2" x 9" (24 cm x 23 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jul. 27, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱300,000 - ₱390,000

              Nude signed and dated 2005 (lower left) oil on canvas 13” x 10 1/2” (33 cm x 27 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Untitled
              Jul. 05, 2024

              Untitled

              Est: €20,000 - €30,000

              Ronald Ventura b. 1973 Untitled signed and dated 18 (lower left) oil on canvas, in the artist's frame overall: 80 x 68,5 cm;  31 ½ x 27 in. Executed in 2018. __________________________________________________ Ronald Ventura n. 1973 Sans Titre signé et daté 18 (en bas à gauche) huile sur toile, dans le cadre de l'artiste ensemble : 80 x 68,5 cm;  31 ½ x 27 in. Exécuté en 2018.

              Sotheby's
            • RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) EYELAND (3) oil on canvas mounted on wood board in
              May. 29, 2024

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) EYELAND (3) oil on canvas mounted on wood board in

              Est: $300,000 - $400,000

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) EYELAND (3) oil on canvas mounted on wood board in the artist’s original frame image: 91.5 x 61.2 cm. (36 x 24 1⁄8 in.) framed: 153 x 122 cm. (60 1⁄4 x 48 in.)

              Christie's
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Apr. 20, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱300,000 - ₱390,000

              PROPERTY FROM THE DON EUGENIO “GENY” LOPEZ JR. COLLECTION a.) Anito Kristo resin 23 1/2" x 12" x 5" (60 cm x 30 cm x 13 cm) b.) Anito Kristo resin 23 1/2" x 12" x 5" (60 cm x 30 cm x 13 cm) c.) Anito Kristo resin 23 1/2" x 12" x 5" (60 cm x 30 cm x 13 cm) d.) Anito Kristo resin 23 1/2" x 12" x 5" (60 cm x 30 cm x 13 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Toxic
              Mar. 09, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Toxic

              Est: ₱4,000,000 - ₱5,200,000

              Toxic signed and dated 2011 (lower left) oil on canvas 48" x 36" (122 cm x 91 cm) WRITE UP: Ventura A Modern Jungle of Dreams It would be disingenuous to speak of Filipino contemporary art without mentioning the contributions of Ronald Ventura. Ventura's creations present a collage of diverse elements drawn from pop culture, art history, and everyday life. At the core of Ventura's artistic philosophy is a rejection of artistic confines, a conscious departure from the establishment of a cohesive narrative. In doing so, he invites his audience into a realm where traditional boundaries blur, giving rise to a new aesthetic that challenges preconceived notions. This defiance of convention has not only widened the scope of Filipino art but has also redefined the parameters of artistic possibility in the Philippines. The emergence of what can be labeled as a new breed of Filipino maximalism finds its roots in Ventura's innovative approach. His artworks serve as a beacon for artists seeking to push the boundaries of their creativity, encouraging them to embrace the abundance of possibilities within the realm of artistic expression. Ventura's influence extends beyond the confines of his canvas, permeating the broader artistic community and inspiring a generation of artists to explore the limitless potential inherent in the fusion of diverse elements. In Ventura’s 2011 work titled Toxic, his groundbreaking approach to maximalism is coupled with another deepseated interest of his; the steampunk aesthetic. Though the style is nothing new, with the earliest examples of the style popping up during the 80s, Ventura helps take steampunk beyond its predominantly Western and Victorian dispositions. He does so by incorporating a biomorphic and almost ecological sense to his works. This can be seen in this piece wherein the hard-edged and industrial elements are not only depicted alongside organic materials, but fused within them, creating a sense of harmony not only in its composition but within the lived worlds of the piece. Ronald Ventura's imprint on Filipino contemporary art is indelible, transcending mere acknowledgment to a celebration of his transformative impact. His artworks, characterized by their multiplicity, fragmentation, and rejection of cohesive narratives, have paved the way for a Filipino maximalism that continues to shape and redefine the landscape of contemporary art in the Philippines. (Jed Daya)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Airhome
              Mar. 09, 2024

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Airhome

              Est: ₱8,000,000 - ₱10,400,000

              PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ARCHITECT AND MRS. EMMANUEL "MANNY" A. MIÑANA Airhome signed and dated 2016 (lower right) oil on canvas 84" x 60" (213 cm x 152 cm) PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist EXHIBITED Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Project: Finding Home-Ronald Ventura Solo Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan, September 15 - November 20, 2016 LITERATURE Paparoni, Demetrio. Ronald Ventura: Works 1998 - 2017. Milan: Skira editore S.p.A., 2018. Full-color photograph on page 177 and painting description on page 174. WRITE UP: Contemporary artist Ronald Ventura ranks among the leading figures of Southeast Asian art. Whitestone Gallery in Tokyo writes: “Ventura's work features a complex layering of images and styles, ranging from hyperrealism, cartoons and graffiti. He views this layering process as a metaphor for the multifaceted national identity of the Philippines.” Ventura has received impressive accolades for his work since the late 1990s, including the 2001 Artist of the Year prize from Art Manilla and the 2005 Ateneo Art Gallery Studio Residency Grant in Sydney, Australia. His first American solo exhibition, Metaphysics of Skin at Tyler Rollins Fine Art in 2009, garnered critical praise, as did Project: Finding Home at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei in 2016. One outstanding piece at Ventura’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) exhibition in Taipei in 2016 was AIRHOME. This oil on canvas was painted in 2016 as Ventura’s homage to the Philippine nation’s ubiquitous Overseas Filipino Worker or OFW. This strikingly complex and multi-layered painting focuses on the concept of national identity and the arrival of the OFW as modern-day national hero. Elegant and muted tones of taupes, browns and grays celebrate the sophisticated ascent symbolized in the painting’s central figure: the Filipino construction professional and worker. He is taking flight as he travels to various construction sites around the world: the Middle East, the Americas, Europe, Asia. In AIRHOME, he has left his native land and has replaced his home with a new, peripatetic existence. He is walking forward, as if out of the canvas, towards a prosperous future. This gentrification is symbolized by the figure’s suit, dress shoes and self-assured stance, alighting in center stage at the intersection of an intricate two-point perspective composition. His expertise, skilled labor and sacrifice have brought honor to his family and country. A soaring jet further illustrates the drive and dynamic flight of this modern-day Filipino, a source of national pride. Nowhere else in Ventura’s body of work has there been such an artistic chronicling of the rise of the OFW. This important work, AIRHOME, embodies Ventura’s statement on the socio-economic success of his country’s OFWs in the last number of decades. (Architect Emmanuel A. Miñana)

              Leon Gallery
            • RONALD VENTURA | Comic Lives 11
              Jan. 20, 2024

              RONALD VENTURA | Comic Lives 11

              Est: S$30,000 - S$60,000

              image size : 40.6 × 30.5 cm frame size : 80.0 × 70.0 cm oil on canvas signed and dated at the lower right 羅納德·溫杜拿《卡通生活 11》2018年作 油彩 画布 右下方有簽名、年代

              33 Auction
            • RONALD VENTURA | Comic Lives 10
              Jan. 20, 2024

              RONALD VENTURA | Comic Lives 10

              Est: S$30,000 - S$60,000

              image size : 40.6 × 30.5 cm frame size: 80.0 × 70.0 cm oil on canvas signed and dated at the lower right 羅納德·溫杜拿《卡通生活 10》2018年作 油彩 画布 右下方有簽名、年代

              33 Auction
            • RONALD VENTURA | Comic Lives 4
              Jan. 20, 2024

              RONALD VENTURA | Comic Lives 4

              Est: S$230,000 - S$430,000

              121.9 × 91.4 cm oil on canvas signed and dated at the upper right 羅納德·溫杜拿《卡通生活 4》2018年作 油彩 画布 右上方有簽名，年代

              33 Auction
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Intersection
              Dec. 02, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Intersection

              Est: ₱1,000,000 - ₱1,300,000

              Intersection signed and dated 2020 (lower right) oil on canvas, fiberglass and resin artwork: 16” x 12” (41 cm x 30 cm) including frame: 32” x 28” x 2 1/2” (81 cm x 71 cm x 6 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot EXHIBITED Secret Fresh Gallery, BenCab x Ronald Ventura, San Juan City, October 26 - November 5, 2020 WRITE UPRonald Ventura's Intersection formed part of a landmark joint exhibition that witnessed his historic collaboration with National Artist for the Visual Arts Benedicto Cabrera. Titled "BenCab x Ronald Ventura," the one-of-a-kind show was mounted at San Juan City's Secret Fresh Gallery. It was a momentous occasion in every sense of the word. Moreover, it was a brave event, especially considering the time it was held: in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The show proved art's unfaltering relevance amid a global crisis and its power to convey humanity's repressed and confused state. In that successful show, Ventura imbues his works with that sense of relevance and serious gravitas, a needed catharsis from the pains of the pandemic. In the show's exhibition notes, curator Ruel Caasi writes: "The forging of these analogous elements revisits the narratives woven and dialogues initiated by the artists in their respective practices, and at the same time generate new meanings as they resonate with concerns and issues of the present." Intersection, the work at hand, emerged as one of the most frank and thought-provoking. It narrates the severity of human lives, living in their harshest times and experiencing the most unrelenting conditions when the world came to a sudden, unexpected halt. In Intersection, Ventura depicts a portrait of a naked man rendered in the artist's ever-incredible hyperrealist visual vernacular. Metal railings, which resemble prison bars, 80 Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Intersection signed and dated 2020 (lower right) oil on canvas, fiberglass and resin artwork: 16” x 12” (41 cm x 30 cm) including frame: 32” x 28” x 2 1/2” (81 cm x 71 cm x 6 cm) P 1,000,000 Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot EXHIBITED Secret Fresh Gallery, BenCab x Ronald Ventura, San Juan City, October 26 - November 5, 2020 gradually penetrate through the man's skin. At the same time, a chaotic ensemble of figures consisting of letters, numbers, and various symbols seemingly fall off from out of nowhere, representing both his consciousness and subconsciousness in a state of disarray. The work is a harrowing depiction of humanity's second fall, but this time not to the pitfalls of sin but to the stresses and anxieties of the pandemic. The metal railings represent the repressive and seemingly endless cycle of lockdowns, with their rusting state alluding to how we all have become "rusted" in the face of chaotic doubt and unfortunate dismal flux brought by a virus that humanity scrambled to understand and contain. The frame, with its metal-like forms, also implies life's rigidity in 2020. They say home is where the heart is. But amid lockdowns, what if that home has been turned into one's prison? When humanity is deprived of its interaction with its natural world in its normal, thriving conditions, coupled with living within the anxieties of being and existing in a turbulent period that plagues one's psyche, it becomes disoriented. Their thoughts and emotions wither away, and they are left to their hazy and obscure conditions, where they encounter that fateful intersection with their own susceptibility. Indeed, the work at hand depicts an intersection—the meeting point between humanity and its glaring vulnerability in the most uncertain of times, in which precariousness, chaotic restlessness, and worsening anxieties all abound. Ventura conjures up an image of the new normal, a renewed state of affairs where humanity had already succumbed to the abyss of tribulations. (Adrian Maranan)

              Leon Gallery
            • RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) - The Watcher
              Nov. 29, 2023

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) - The Watcher

              Est: $700,000 - $900,000

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) The Watcher acrylic on canvas 122.5 x 92.5 cm. (48 1⁄4 x 36 3⁄8 in.)

              Christie's
            • RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) - Untitled
              Nov. 28, 2023

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) - Untitled

              Est: $900,000 - $1,800,000

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Untitled mixed media on canvas 122 x 243.2 cm. (48 x 95 3⁄4 in.)

              Christie's
            • A Lot of 9 Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Oct. 21, 2023

              A Lot of 9 Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱500,000 - ₱650,000

              a.) Untitled signed (upper right) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) b.) Untitled signed (lower right) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) c.) Untitled signed and dated 2001 (lower left) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) d.) Untitled signed (lower right) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) e.) Untitled signed and dated 2005 (lower left) oil on paper mounted on canvas 7" x 4 3/4" (18 cm x 12 cm) f.) Untitled signed (lower left) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) g.) Untitled signed (upper left) oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 4 1/2" (15 cm x 11 cm) h.) Untitled signed (lower right) pen and ink on paper mounted on canvas 6" x 5 1/2" (15 cm x 14 cm) i.) Untitled signed and dated 1998 (lower right) graphite on paper mounted on canvas 9 1/2" x 9" (24 cm x 23 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Oct. 21, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱100,000 - ₱130,000

              a.) Mourning Cookies dated 2014 polymer resin 15” x 15” x 3” (38 cm x 38 cm x 8 cm) b.) Realities by Ronald Ventura published by Damiani

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Oct. 21, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱120,000 - ₱156,000

              Untitled signed and dated 2000 (lower left) oil on canvas 11” x 9” (28 cm x 23 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Oct. 21, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱150,000 - ₱195,000

              Untitled signed and dated 1997 (lower right) oil on canvas 18” x 24” (46 cm x 61 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura 羅納德 · 溫杜拿 | Pinamumugaran (Nesting Ground) 巢穴
              Oct. 06, 2023

              Ronald Ventura 羅納德 · 溫杜拿 | Pinamumugaran (Nesting Ground) 巢穴

              Est: $1,200,000 - $2,400,000

              Ronald Ventura b. 1973 Pinamumugaran (Nesting Ground) oil on canvas, mounted on panel signed and dated 2008 152.5 by 366.5 cm.  60 by 144¼ in. ---------------------------------------------- 羅納德 · 溫杜拿 1973年生 巢穴 油畫畫布，裱於木板 2008年作 款識 Ventura，2008 152.5 x 366.5 公分， 60 x 144¼ 英寸

              Sotheby's
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Naked 1
              Sep. 09, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Naked 1

              Est: ₱1,000,000 - ₱1,300,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Naked 1 signed and dated 2001 (lower left) oil on wood 31" x 10" (79 cm x 25 cm) A man reveals his rawest self in the work at hand, Naked 1. He stands in a posture that openly exposes his bare body, but the look on his face shows that he is conflicted about this vulnerable state. Looming behind him is his formal attire, it appears like an apparition. Perhaps, it is a memory from his past or a reminder of the moment he abandoned the mundane connotations of a suit and tie. In art, “nude” and “naked” are not the same. Although both terms refer to the absence of clothing, they have a distinction in meaning and depiction: “nude” is portrayed in a manner that captures an artful essence, whereas “naked” is simply being vulnerable while unclothed. Indeed, it is the latter that is being depicted in this aptly titled piece. The contemporary Filipino artist of this oil painting, Ronald Ventura, is renowned for his oeuvre that tends to revolve around the human form and utilizes a broad range of imagery that draws inspiration from historical events, religious themes, mythologies, and science fiction. His compositions show a complex layering of images and styles. “I will paint and update a painting until I am satisfied. It’s like a film director who is shooting a scene—at certain points, he will feel like he needs more extras or more light,” he said in an interview. “This is the closest analogy to my painting process that I can think of.” Ventura became a recipient of the Artist of the Year prize from Art Manila in 2001, the year this piece is dated. Then in 2005, he received the Ateneo Art Award for his Human Study series. (Isabella Romarate)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Point of Know Return - Light Box 3
              Sep. 09, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Point of Know Return - Light Box 3

              Est: ₱1,000,000 - ₱1,300,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Point of Know Return - Light Box 3 signed and dated 2011-2012 (lower left) lithography and oil base paint on acrylic sheet, assembled with coloured acrylic sheet, LED light and aluminum case D: 26 3/4" W: 2 3/4" (D: 68 cm W: 7 cm) For his 2012 solo exhibit titled Recyclables, Ronald Ventura produces an impressive and diverse selection of works that not only showcases his practice, but his ability to remain novel and cutting-edge despite working with a relatively unfamiliar medium. The exhibit was mounted at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute and featured access to new and experimental media that allowed Ventura to push the boundaries of his craft. Ventura himself notes that “To try new things, to figure out new ways, to do art in a manner that has never crossed my mind, and to end up with something surprisingly fresh and undeniably new in this artistic wonderland at the heart of the Lion City.” The result is a groundbreaking exhibit that tackles not only climate change and the arguably ongoing ecological collapse, but man’s complex relationship with nature and its conceptual underpinnings. In terms of his practice, Dr. Adele Tan notes Recyclables’ importance within Ventura’s canon by noting that: “Here the style that so cleaves to Ventura’s reputation is momentarily put aside (although vestiges of his impeccable skill with drawing remain discernibly present) in favor of a presentation of something less tangible, like the forces sentiment and culture, religious or spiritual imagination, and the antinomies of life itself.” She adds that “The tension raised here is instead that of the primordial opposition of Man and Nature, and also the circumspection of what is human nature and its fate, which he had already begun with his Zoomanities series…” The collection itself can be divided according to medium and style. This particular work at hand belongs to a selection of pieces titled Point of Know Return. The works from this part of the exhibit features lithographs on aluminum lightboxes. The works themselves evoke images or road and caution signs due to their yellow and black motifs as well as their recognizable shapes. But instead of warning us against something external to us, the all-too-familiar images of man-made disasters and hazards. More than a decade after the show, can we say Ventura’s show, and the others like it, have successfully raised awareness regarding our current situation? That depends. But the vagueness of our circumstance may actually lead us down an intriguing, if not righteous, path. Both the enormity and complexity of our current state has led us not only to work on, talking about, and thinking about it in different but also contradictory ways. The philosopher Timothy Morton describes the phenomenon as a hyperobject. Morton himself notes that: “A hyperobject is a name I invented for something that is so vastly distributed in time and space, relative to the observer, that we might not think it’s even an object at all. It’s good to have a word for things that are now only too thinkable, if not totally visible—global warming, radiation, the biosphere… Words enable you to think.” Thus, perhaps our efforts When connected to the understanding of our current ecological predicament as a hyperobject, we can see Ventura’s Recyclables as groundbreaking. Although it does not predate the term, it predates Morton’s own aesthetic analysis by more than half a decade. Recyclables not only present contradictions, but understand that this state is its natural tendency. Instead of finding a singular path through uniformity, it accepts diversity as the first step in truly analyzing our problem. Plurality here is not tantamount to confusion. Instead it is a call to rethink how to approach the future by looking at how we view the present. (Jed Daya)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Into The Woods 2
              Sep. 09, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Into The Woods 2

              Est: ₱4,000,000 - ₱5,200,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Into The Woods 2 signed and dated 2012 (center bottom) Frottage, Ink, acrylic, cast paper, shaped handmade paper an kobo paper on linen canvas 96" x 78 1/2" x 6 1/2"(243 cm x 199.5 cm x 17 cm) Into the Woods 2 is one of three works Ronald Ventura created for his 2012 show at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI). Just recently, Into the Woods 3 was successfully auctioned by León Gallery in its 'The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2023.' Titled 'Recyclables,' Ventura's show at the STPI elevates nature—its formidability, haunting fragility, and eventual unforgiving wrath—as the ultimate protagonist. Into the Woods 2 and the other works in the exhibition showcase Ventura's versatility and experimentality. According to its website, STPI is "committed to promoting artistic experimentation in the mediums of print and paper and has become one of the most cutting-edge destinations for contemporary art in Asia." Since his association and work with the STPI, Ventura "has consciously created artworks that would resonate with the theme of conservation and how urgent it is to address environmental concerns," as he puts it in his artist's statement, "Art and Nature's Revenge," published in the 'Recyclables' exhibition catalog. He sees the STPI as "where materials can be reused and recycled into even better, more ecologically-sound materials for making art." In his Into the Woods works, Ventura mixes paper casts and frottages rubbed from his collection of indigenous woodworks to form an enchanting image of a tree inhabited by flora and fauna cast from his diverse assemblage of wooden articles. The result is both a remembrance of nature's benevolence and a warning of its overpowering retaliation principally due to capitalist exploitation—that mercenary socio-economic order. There is an indigenous-like character weaved in the work at hand. It resembles a sacred tree held in utmost reverence (and, at the same time, feared for its unforgiving wrath), in which people gather to venerate nature and its gifts and all the creatures that live within the circle of life. By using recycled paper as his base, Ventura weaves inspiration from indigenous practices, gaining knowledge from the very heart and soul of one's motherland. The artist celebrates and promotes indigenous peoples' understanding of how human lives are inherently tied to the land and environment. These peoples have been practicing sustainability and have established harmony with nature, taking only what they need and thus, allowing the Earth's natural regenerative powers to occur undisturbed. Ventura espouses that creativity and sustainability are not mutually exclusive; both sustenance and cultural/creative expressions are tied to the environment's welfare. Into the Woods 2 pushes us to return to our roots—to go back into the woods, in which paradise lost is regained and all creatures extol the virtues of the living world, existing in melodic concordance. (Adrian Maranan)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jul. 29, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱150,000 - ₱195,000

              Mourning Cookies dated 2014 polymer resin 15” x 15” x 3” (38 cm x 38 cm x 8 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jul. 29, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱35,000 - ₱45,500

              Guardian signed and dated 2012 (lower right) screen print, foil on fabriano 100% cotton paper 13 3/4” x 11” (34 cm x 28 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Untitled 無題
              Jul. 27, 2023

              Untitled 無題

              Est: $100,000 - $200,000

              Ronald Ventura b. 1973 Untitled acrylic on canvas, in artist's frame signed and dated 2018 40 by 30 cm.  15¾ by 11¾ in. (image) 80.5 by 70 cm.  31¾ by 27½ in. (overall) ---------------------------------------- 羅納德 · 溫杜拿 1973年生 無題 壓克力畫布，藝術家原裝畫框 2018年作 款識 藝術家簽名，2018 40 x 30 公分，15¾ x 11¾ 英寸（畫作） 80.5 x 70 公分，31¾ x 27½ 英寸（整體）

              Sotheby's
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jun. 17, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱3,000,000 - ₱3,900,000

              Profile signed and dated 2010 (lower right) mixed media 72" x 48" x 11 1/2" (183 cm x 122 cn x 29 cm) PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Italy LITERATURE: Ventura, Ronald, Primo Giovanni Marella, Adjani Arumpac, Alice G. Guillermo, Daniela Palazzoli, and Igan D'Bayan. Realities: Ronald Ventura. Bologna: Damiani editore, 2011. Full-color photograph and painting description on page 73. Woon Tai Ho. "Contemporary Hits." The Business Times, May 14, 2010. Full-color photograph on page 29. In her essay "Human Study and the Politics of Gender," published in the book Realities: Ronald Ventura, the eminent art critic Alice G. Guillermo writes: "With his 2008 National University of Singapore solo show, "Mapping the Corporeal," the artist [Ventura] seems to leave behind as an episode the idealized nudes coming into their own and focuses on other hitherto untouched aspects of the human animal: his overwhelming carnal appetites that distort his human nature. This direction has led to grotesqueries and monstrous creatures with exposed viscera where the cravings take over the higher faculties…." It is in this relevant quote from Guillermo that Ventura steers this work titled Profile. The work forms part of a series of exploits for Ventura regarding the correlation between humanity and the modern-day inferno we inhabit, which strongly began in his iconic and highly acclaimed 2005 exhibition Human Study, mounted in both his home country and Sydney, Australia. Here, we see a naked, decapitated human body with its veins and arteries exposed. Canvases seemingly appear as replacements for its head, where the human brain, the faculty for rationality, dwells. The overall work sees a ghastly amalgamation of the macabre and surrealism. Harrowing images of Ventura's trademark surrealism populate the canvases. One painting in the center particularly fills in for the man's head; it depicts a centaur (tikbalang in Philippine mythology), characterized by its virile bearing, brawny physique, and the horrifying ballooning of its testes. Ventura paints an overall image of a human profile of carnal desires taking over rationality and willpower. It becomes more compelling when situated within the larger context of machismo, misogyny, and the commodification and exploitation of women’s bodies prevailing in a macho-feudal and patriarchal society. The man’s veins and arteries have blackened, seemingly being poisoned by lechery. A half-open zipper runs through the center of his body, revealing the animal inside when expanded. The image of the centaur, representing the insatiable lust for flesh, has taken over the man's brain, symbolizing how animalistic instincts and impulses have driven him into savagery and assault towards other humans, and thus, trampling on their inherent and inviolable dignity. More tormentingly, images of teddy bears and rainbows appear. Is Ventura painfully alluding to child molestation? The images in the respective canvases appear behind ominous fumes of smoke akin to a horror movie setting or a psycho-killer thriller film. They seemingly appear as ghostly images from Dante's Inferno, particularly the narrative where Dante and Virgil leave Limbo, the first circle of hell, and enter the second circle, where "carnal sinners who subordinate reason to desire" are condemned to eternity. Ventura depicts an image of humanity metamorphosing into an infernal incubus. A conundrum and riot of images capture anarchic tension, the Armageddon of humanity towards its profanity. A lighter can be seen in the lower-left corner of the work. It may signify two things: igniting the inferno of savage carnal hunger or suppressing it and enkindling the flame of rationality, the impulse to safeguard and foster others' autonomy and sanctity. Lastly, Ventura grippingly asks through this work: Is humanity becoming the beasts it once feared? (A.M.)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jun. 17, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱12,000,000 - ₱15,600,000

              Cross Turismo signed and dated 2014 (upper left) oil on canvas 48" x 72" (122 cm x 183 cm) EXHIBITED: Tyler Rollins Fine Art, E.R. (Endless Resurrection), New York, September 4 - October 25, 2014 LITERATURE: Paparoni, Demetrio. Ronald Ventura: Works (1998 - 2017). Milan: Skira editore, 2018. Full-color photograph and painting description on page 210.description on page 284. FOLK CHRISTIANITY AND MASERATIS by LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL From crossed to Caravaggio and folk Christinanity to Maseratis, there’s no stone unturned nor cultural inference left unstudied by the wicked, all-encompassing attentions of Ronald Ventura. In a single stroke, he alludes to the Japanese video game Gran Turismo as well as the legendary Italian touring car, the Maserati; and finds himself in the center of a Filipino Holy Week with its mock crucifixions. It is, of course, fodder for his deft social commentary on the commercialism of it all. Faux Roman soldiers from the Moriones Festival and cartoonish explanations of pain (the “Aroouch! emblazoned across the work), as well as dogs and shrouds create “the hyper-real surreal” that has become the Ventura trademark. The rooster that crowed three times to mark St. Peter’s betrayal makes sure that none of it goes unnoticed. Ventura is a serial subversive who specializes in throwing a light on media and reality. His modernday centurions look uncannily like riot police and imply that there are many sacrifices being made indeed in this day and age. In his works, there are always a thousand subtexts to explore.

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jun. 17, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱4,000,000 - ₱5,200,000

              Into The Woods 3 signed and dated 2012 (lower right) frottage, ink, acrylic, cast paper, shaped handmade paper and kozo paper on linen canvas unframed: 96" x 79" (243 cm x 199.5 cm) framed (acrylic box): 97" x 80" x 9" (246 cm x 202 cm x 23 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot PROVENANCE Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), Singapore EXHIBITED Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), Ronald Ventura: Recyclables, Singapore, November 17 - December 15, 2012 As one of the Philippines’ most acclaimed contemporary artists working today, Ronald Ventura is no stranger to creating works that unearth culture and the social psyche. Ventura admits to loving contradictions and multiple realities, mixing the pretty and the grim, two elements which still find their place in this otherwise placid work. The artist has risen to prominence on the Asian contemporary art scene with complex, layered works that juxtapose unexpected images with scenes from everyday life. Into the Woods III does not only reveal Ventura’s mastery over a number of media and materials, but showcases the twists and turns in the master’s mind. According to Dr. Patrick Flores: “It has been a slow but steady transformation, building on his graphic intelligence. It proceeds from an intense engagement with the figure and its mutations, or better to say, its disfiguration through certain devices like the palimpsest or logics like morphing or digital manipulation. We notice a kind of classical aspiration that lapses into the baroque — although an Italian art critic thinks it’s gothic by way of mass media. All told, it has been an interesting drift, assuming both depth and horizon along the way.” (J.D.)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jun. 17, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱12,000,000 - ₱15,600,000

              Hunter signed and dated 2015 (lower left) mixed media and oil on canvas mounted on wood board 84" x 60" (213 cm x 152 cm) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Hong Kong LITERATURE Paparoni, Demetrio. Ronald Ventura: Works (1998 - 2017). Milan: Skira editore, 2018. Full-color photograph on page 285 and painting description on page 284. Ronald Ventura’s “Rainbow Bridge” first made its appearance in his “Finding Home” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Taipei. It was described as an installation of multi-colored bands created from coiled bamboo and was both Filipino and Asian, traditional and futuristic all at the same time. It used the language of a recognizable material to express both spiritual values (resiliency, endurance under painful circumstance) and modern technology (the information super-highway.) In the essay, ‘What is Left of Man’, Demetrio Paparoni his chief chronicler writes, “Within the multiple stratifications and superimpositions in Ventura’s works, heteregenous figurations can often be found which unite Christian iconography, precolonial Filipino art, the history of European art, images of television stars, street signs, advertising graphics, and characters from Disney cartoons, Japanese manga or anime and videogames. There is nothing that Ventura a priori excludes that can be perceived in his representations, which reflect the chaos caused by the influx of images that circulate on the web.” The motif has been a feature of his works as early as 2009 and in the work at hand, Hunter (2013), the rainbow of knowledge streaks out of one eye as the other is covered with doll’s hands. The spectre wears a hat has a fiery plume composed of twisted gargoyles and lizard skeletons. Puffs of clouds and a dark moon surround him. He points a gun at the viewer making it very clear who is Ventura’s ultimate prey. In conversation with Elio Capuccio in ‘Man, Animal, and Hybrid’, Ventura reveals that he “works with “a vast mental archive.” And “not only that,” he adds, I archive and catalogue images in my computer that I think I will be able to use. My work itself stimulates me to go fish something out of one folder rather than another. Obviously, once transposed on canvas, every image undergoes its own metamorphosis.” And what a transformation it is to behold : Tongues, eyes, Dick Tracy revolvers, bare buttocks, hothouse flowers, mastiffs wearing skull-embroidered leashes, jump-suited workers carrying drills. scarlet parrots breaking free from a wall of cubes. Indeed, it’s a gorgeous and nightmarish vista that Ventura leads us into, taking us from reality in our stream of consciousness to sweet oblivion.

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jun. 17, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱800,000 - ₱1,040,000

              Home Screen dated 2010 fiber glass/resin, polyurethane paint 30 1/4" x 51 3/4" x 18 1/4" (76 cm x 131 cm x 46 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot PROVENANCE Private Collection, Italy EXHIBITED Primo Marella Gallery, Ronald Ventura: Fragmented Channels, Milan, June 24 - September 10, 2010 LITERATURE Ventura, Ronald, Primo Giovanni Marella, Adjani Arumpac, Alice G. Guillermo, Daniela Palazzoli, and Igan D'Bayan. Realities: Ronald Ventura. Bologna: Damiani editore, 2011. Full-color photograph and painting description on page 158. With his new ways of seeing, Ventura exerts his influence in overturning notions on presenting the human body, or formal problems once dominated late modern painting, or conceptions of the ideal as against the products of academic classicism of a still earlier age. His artistic canon is thus diverse and multifaceted, effectively showing the level of mastery he has over his craft. This particular piece was among the works exhibited at Ventura’s seminal show titled Fragmented Channels. The exhibit featured a number of dioramas which are relatively similar to those one would find in historical museums. But instead of recreating historical and pivotal events, Ventura shows us scenes of everyday life. Home Screen was among the works that seemingly captured a very specific, yet at the same time universal theme in Though one may ask: how does a work exhibit both particularity and universality at the same time? The answer to that would be the use of narrative and storytelling. Through the use of stories and narrative structures, one is able to effectively live vicariously through the stories depicted. Though these events may be unique, distinct, or even outlandish, our shared humanity allows us to sympathize and empathize with scenes we would’ve otherwise never have imagined. Fragmented Channels features a number of these scenes that teeter on the edge of the real, surreal, and absurd. Home Screen seemingly depicts the calm before the storm. At the center is a family, sleeping and seemingly unaware of the various scenes of impending chaos. Above them is a painting of a ship that is about to capsize. To the right are three dogs; the smallest of which is merely watching the other two copulating. While on the right is a man seemingly more interested in the wall than his fellow human beings. Three vague yet palpable omens surrounding 3/4ths of the family’s space. The fourth being us, the viewer; painfully aware of all the signs yet unable to anything. Ultimately, the entity that knows it all is in the worst position to do anything about it. Home Theatre showcases how oftentimes knowing hurts more than ignorance. For it is in the bliss of not knowing how things end can we avoid the pain of starting things in the first place. (J.D.)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Feb. 18, 2023

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱1,000,000 - ₱1,300,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Untitled signed and dated 2014 (lower left) oil on canvas 18" x 24" (46 cm x 61 cm) PROVENANCE:Private Collection, Manila Ronald Ventura sees the unique approach in his art as a metaphor for the multifaceted national identity of the Philippines. His idiosyncratic style is influenced by the high and low artforms that index the occupying nations of Spain, Japan, and the United States, alongside indigenous Filipino folklore. His works show a complex layering of images and themes, ranging from hyperrealism to cartoons and graffiti, and his references to Old Master paintings are mixed with symbols of pop culture. The combination of technical virtuosity and the scope of the subject matter revealed in each piece evokes the attributes of an epic, for which Ventura is noted as a master of his craft. “Ventura is located here – a decaying space with dissolving borders, wherein, ironically, bodies remain bound by social practices and conditions. From this perspective, the artist’s transgressions are not eccentricities but symptoms of the contemporary condition. He is seeing through the halting transformation. He is squinting through the blur that was the landscape,” as written in the book titled Ronald Ventura: Realities. “He is squinting through that blur and he is seeing disembodied bodies.” In 2014, Ventura held two notable exhibits: the “E.R. (Endless Resurrection)” at the Tyler Rollins Fine Art in New York and the “Bulul: Ronald Ventura and the traditional art of the Philippines” at the Museo delle Culture in Switzerland. (P.I.R.)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Mask
              Dec. 03, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Mask

              Est: ₱2,000,000 - ₱2,600,000

              Mask signed and dated 2020 (lower left) oil on canvas, fiberglass, resin artwork: 24" x 18" (61 cm x 46 cm) frame: 41" x 34" (104 cm x 86 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot The world came to a sudden halt during the early months of 2020 due to the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With the advent of lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus, artists have turned to art as a cathartic avenue for emotions and ideas to powerfully cascade in a time of repressed mobility and interaction. In the case of the work at hand by Ronald Ventura, the lauded contemporary artist depicts a figure, likely a healthcare worker, wearing a respirator, which is a common sight of the times. Here, Ventura poignantly evokes the suffocating anxieties and desolation attached to the uncertainty of living amid a pandemic. Underneath the masks we are all conformed to wear are the faces of humanity worn out with hopelessness and helplessness. In his September 27, 2020 Philstar article titled ‘Ronald Ventura’s paradise alley,’ Igan D’Bayan asked: “To what extent has the pandemic altered Ventura’s imagery and sense of aesthetics?” Ventura answered: “Early on, I was already painting figures whose faces were covered. Even before, you could already see today’s events as eventually happening. But the gas-masked figures in my early works were supposed to be symbolic of a sort of toxicity in information, a pollution of thought,” to which D’Bayan remarks, “Now they have manifested as something literal and all-too-real.” This is Ronald Ventura’s image of the ‘new normal.’ (A.M.)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Blind Mechanism
              Dec. 03, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Blind Mechanism

              Est: ₱20,000,000 - ₱26,000,000

              Blind Mechanism signed and dated 2003 (lower left) oil on canvas 84" x 120" (213 cm x 305 cm) LITERATURE Ventura, Ronald, Primo Giovanni Marella, Adjani Arumpac, Alice G. Guillermo, Daniela Palazzoli, Igan D'Bayan, and Ramon E.S. Lerma. Realities: Ronald Ventura. Bologna, Italy: Damiani editore, 2011. Full-color illustration and photo caption on page 80 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award, in which the lauded contemporary artist Ronald Ventura became one of its recipients. On the eve of that exultant occasion for Ventura, Leon Gallery is delighted to present a monumental piece by the artist he made during that same triumphant period—the year that signaled and gave credence to the emergence of Ventura as a creative force to be reckoned with, not just in the Philippine art landscape but more so in the formidable international arena. Titled Blind Mechanism, this piece is the largest work by Ventura to come to the Philippine market. The work at hand epitomizes what artist-writer and member of the judges’ panel of the 2003 CCP 13 Artists Award, Sid Gomez Hildawa writes as follows: “Critical stance and rebellious sensibilities are what imparts energy to contemporary art, challenging audiences to explore creative possibilities that lie beyond the comfortable world of the conventional.” The piece is also emblematic of Ventura’s worksduring the 2000s, in which he employs a sepia/red oxide-dominated palette. In the July/August 2002 issue of the Asian Art News, Alice Guillermo writes in her essay ‘Discovering Male Nudes: Ronald Ventura’: “The sepia tonalities evoke memory and the passage of time, but in the intimate personal experience of the artist, they also suggest the color of rusting metal exposed to the elements, an allusion to the artist’s growing up in the depressed areas of Navotas with the corroded, galvanized iron roofing of the shanties.” The 2003 13 Artists Award catalog writes in its profile of Ventura: “Ventura is dragging old master techniques into 21st-century relevance. He is among a handful of painters who still painstakingly overlay multiple glazes and velaturas, resulting in stunning interplays between transparent and opaque passages. At first approach, his obsession is the male nude, rendered with chromatic restraint, in grisaille, usually on a red-oxide background. But he renders his subjects with such a tour-de-force of technique, that the audience inevitably realizes that his true obsession is painting itself. His is painting that defies digitization and photography, and which co-opts both of them. His is painting pleading for its life.” In this massive work, Ventura invites the viewer to focus on the imposing figure of a horse, which serves as the central subject. The artist depicts the animal as mounted on rockers, evoking that popular and classic children’s toy—the rocking horse—which a child can ride while playfully moving backward and forward. Ventura imbibes a disturbing atmosphere by depicting the horse as crying tears of blood, explicitly expounding on the subject of animal exploitation. Guillermo, also a member of the judges’ panel for the 2003 CCP 13 Artists Award, writes in the book Realities: Ronald Ventura: “Ventura carries his thematics further by taking a stand against speciesism, which is the belief that the human race is superior to other species and that exploitation of animals for the advantage of humans is justified.” Adjani Arumpac describes in Realities: Ronald Ventura that the artist’s “animals are those that have been reduced and isolated to “productive and consuming units,” a phrase she borrows from John Berger’s essay ‘Vanishing Animals.’ Furthermore, Arumpac notes that in Ventura’s “narrative, both humans and animals are under observation, exposed to the system’s exploitative gaze.” Ventura juxtaposes the image of the horse with images of machine engines and circus clowns. In doing so, Ventura presents a compelling critique of how greed has pervaded humanity’s psyche. The figures of circus clowns and the depiction of the horse as a toy symbolize human exploitation of animals for mercenary amusement. The machine engines represent how animals have been treated as “mechanical devices” conditioned for continuous abuse and exploitation until they ultimately deteriorate, to which they can be easily replaced. Ventura does not aim his critique toward the consumption of animals by humans for daily sustenance. Instead, he focuses on how humans have been blinded and succumbed to exploitative entertainment, all in the name of profit. The modern circus, represented by circus clowns, is a powerful representation of how the status quo has weighed so much on profit-driven enterprises regardless of the burden of maltreatment it imposes. The circus clowns can also allude to the irony of existence under a capitalist system, in which the primary motive is to accumulate wealth greedily. Through this work, Ventura effectively raises timely discourses on how ethical treatment and consumption under a system that survives by means of exploitation, whether of humans or animals, is virtually non-existent. Ventura ponders on the burning question of how humans have become more bestial than the other life forms they have deemed inferior. (A.M.)

              Leon Gallery
            • RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Hunter mixed media and oil on canvas mounted on wo
              Dec. 01, 2022

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Hunter mixed media and oil on canvas mounted on wo

              Est: $1,200,000 - $2,200,000

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Hunter mixed media and oil on canvas mounted on wood board 213 x 152 cm. (83 7/8 x 59 7/8 in.)

              Christie's
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Oct. 22, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱20,000 - ₱26,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Guardian signed and dated 2011 (lower right) Edition 17 of 20 screen print, foil on fabriano 100% cotton paper 14” x 11” (36 cm x 28 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Oct. 21, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱25,000 - ₱32,500

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Deterioration signed and dated 1999 (lower right) monoprint lithography on paper 30 1/2” x 24” (77 cm x 61 cm)

              Leon Gallery
            • RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Cross Turismo RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Cross Turi
              Oct. 11, 2022

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Cross Turismo RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Cross Turi

              Est: $300,000 - $500,000

              RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Cross Turismo RONALD VENTURA (B. 1973) Cross Turismo signed and dated ‘ventura 2014’ (upper left) graphite and oil on canvas 122.5 x 183 cm. (48 1/4 x 72 in.) Painted in 2014

              Christie's
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Filter
              Sep. 10, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Filter

              Est: ₱800,000 - ₱1,040,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Filter signed and dated 2012 (lower left) oil on canvas mounted on board 16" x 12" (41 cm x 30 cm) One of the most acclaimed artists in Southeast Asia, Ronald Ventura is considered an auction star. His painting Grayground was a record-setting work at Sotheby’s, and he continues to set buzz in various auction houses and shows in the country and abroad. The contemporary artist is known for combining elements of hyperrealism, cartoons, illustrations, Pop Art symbols, and animals, especially dogs. The contemporary artist is considered an auction star. In these works, viewers sense dramatic tensions in the process of image making, as Ventura deals with dualisms and posthumanism. This particular piece seemingly combines the eschatological sci-fi aesthetic that became popular during the latter half of the twentieth century, and his iconic visual style. In the work, we see what appears to be a girl with a gas mask. The mask’s tube is held at its end by the girl’s hand, accentuating the fumes seemingly exiting the mask. Ventura’s imagery evokes scenes attributed to the end of the world; conjuring up symbols straight out of the movies. But one can undoubtedly view the work beyond its somber aesthetic. Ventura’s Filter can be seen as a metaphor for the resilience of the human spirit. Wherein despite the circumstances, mankind’s indomitable aspirations will undoubtedly guide it even when all else fails; even if everything that is solid melts into air.

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Depth
              Sep. 10, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Depth

              Est: ₱500,000 - ₱650,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Depth signed and dated 2016 (lower left) oil on leather board artwork: 12" x 18" (30 cm x 46 cm) with frame: 29" x 36 1/2" x 2" (74 cm x 91 cm x 5 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot As one of the Philippines’ most acclaimed contemporary artists working today, Ronald Ventura is no stranger to creating works that unearth culture and the social psyche. Ventura admits to loving contradictions and multiple realities, mixing the pretty and the grim, two elements which still find their place in this otherwise placid work. The artist has risen to prominence on the Asian contemporary art scene with complex, layered works that juxtapose unexpected images, and often macabre images, with scenes from everyday life .He is known for mixing different styles, such as Hyperrealism ,Surrealism, and Pop Art. In this particular piece, Ventura presents us with an irreverent and slightly surreal spin on the pop culture hit film Jaws. In the work we see the iconic Great White, rendered in a bold red hue as opposed to its typical grey color, rising from the waves; seemingly ready for its next score. Beside it are a pair of legs, positioned in such a way that suggests that its previous owner unfortunately met an untimely fate. (J. D.)

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Migration
              Sep. 10, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) - Migration

              Est: ₱800,000 - ₱1,040,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Migration signed and dated 2016 (lower left) acrylic and oil on board, fibe rglass, resin artwork: 22 1/2" x 21" (57 cm x 53 cm) with frame: 36 1/2" x 29" x 2" (92 cm x 73 cm x 5 cm) Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot Ronald Ventura’s highly distinct and innovative approach to art has garnered him critical and commercial acclaim. His works often feature a surreal disposition that seemingly juxtaposes itself with his detailed and almost hyperrealistic treatment of his subject-matter. The result is a nuanced visual exploration of reality itself as Ventura attempts to unearth the cultural, psychological, and spiritual elements that animate and influence our reality. Though Ventura often uses popculture as his device and metaphor of choice, he is now stranger to more classical symbols and icons. Such is the case in this piece titled Migration. When viewed, one’s attention is undoubtedly drawn to the multiple humanlike figures emerging from what appears to be a tree; as if they are being brought to the world in the same way leaves, flowers, and fruits are. His treatment of the figures seemingly evoke images of classical and academic art; a tradition, when viewed through a Western lens, that often takes on a religious and spiritual perspective. Such a reading is furthered by the very title of the piece, implying that the work does not symbolize birth, but some sort of renewal that comes with a transition, a change of the season, or, as the name suggests, a form of migration. Another aspect of the work that allows it to be read in a renewed religious sense is the very shape and treatment of the canvas, bringing to mind the iconic Shroud of Turin. In line with the aforementioned theme of change, the shroud is often seen as among the most indispensible icons of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection; an event that can also be seen as a narrative of transition and transformation. Ventura’s symbol-laden approach allows us to interpret his works in ways that reflect the cultural shifts and upheavals of mankind.

              Leon Gallery
            • Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)
              Jul. 30, 2022

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973)

              Est: ₱100,000 - ₱130,000

              Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Anito Bart (Yellow) dated 2018 matte duco finish on polystone 19” x 13” x 7” (48 cm x 33 cm x 18 cm)

              Leon Gallery
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