A Different Beast

Ronald Ventura presents his public art installation at Ayala Museum OpenSpace for Art Fair Philippines 2023.

Hyper Beast (Rhino)

Ayala Museum, in partnership with Ronald Ventura Studio, presents its latest exhibition for OpenSpace, the museum’s public art exhibition program. This presentation, titled Beast Watcher, features the work of highly acclaimed and record-breaking artist Ronald Ventura, as part of Art Fair Philippines’ 10 Days of Art initiative.

“Anito Ape + Zoomanity (Beast Master)”

Beast Watcher includes two new sculptures and an art car, which will be displayed outside the front and rear entrances of Ayala Museum. “Anito Ape + Zoomanity (Beast Master)” is a two-in-one installation of a creature with an ape head and an anito body accompanied by its bull sidekick. They lord over the space fronting Ayala Museum and survey Makati Avenue and The Link car park with a telescope. The work is reminiscent of Ventura’s Watching the Watchmen in 2012, where contemporary sculptures inspired by Ifugao rice gods stare at visitors with an air of divine reckoning.

Choosing the colors of a caution sign (yellow and black), Ventura meditates on NFT culture and social media, and how images from the past (anitos, bul-ols) can be combined with their counterparts in the present (Bored Apes, anime, cartoons), creating a third entity. The ape is about to step on a banana peel, which foreshadows the figure’s slapstick slip.

Porsche 911 Cabriolet

Another sculpture, “Hyper Beast (Rhino),” is a black rhinoceros with human feet and a yellow horn, trudging toward its appointed end. Lastly, a Porsche 911 Cabriolet is transformed into an art car with paintings of a horse rider – juxtaposed with images of lightning, a pedestrian crossing, Richie Rich, and a myriad of other symbols – continuing Ventura’s exploration of art as an agent of motion and not just an object of stasis. The show is a combination of public art gravitas and contemporary art waggishness.

The exhibition ran from February 15 to March 12, 2023.

Ronald Ventura is a Filipino contemporary artist who has had key exhibitions in museums and galleries all over the world. He is famous for his signature style of combining images from Philippine folk art, Asian symbols, pop culture icons, and historical references. Layered in a dizzying tableau or combined in playful, unexpected ways, images in Ventura’s art reflect multiple facets of Philippine culture and identity.

The exhibition is presented under Ayala Museum’s outdoor exhibition program called OpenSpace, which provides a public space for dialogue and interaction with contemporary art and artists. Previous exhibitors include Toym Imao, Leeroy New, Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan, Plet Bolipata, Lilianna Manahan, Mark Justiniani, Allison Wong David, Alwin Reamillo, and James Clar.

For more information, visit www.ayalamuseum.org.