174
PHILIPPINES
Ronaldo Ventura
Rising 1998
oil on paper 95.5 x 62.2 cm

Ronaldo Ventura was born in 1973, studied painting in the Philippines College of Architecture and Fine Arts, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, where he now teaches, and has exhibited regularly in the Philippines since 1990. The painting’s subject is the awakening of consciousness, which is described with extraordinary imagination. The unnerving picture describes an alien biological world. It is divided into four sections or stages: early foetal forms, shown back right; the evolution of one of these forms, shown in the centre; its development into a full grown adult in its cocoon; and to the left, shown trying to emerge, apparently trapped, with its hand placed over its face in an expression of despair. Finally, bottom right, a young boy peers closely at a glowing light, his eyelids pressed close to protect him from its intensity.