GIVE THOSE ‘INFLUENCERS’ A BREAK, HERE ARE 10 FILIPINO ARTISTS YOU MIGHT BE MISSING OUT ONLINE
The Philippine art scene is thriving now more than ever, inspiring a young generation of artists with their own unique vision, style, and medium. Here are 10 Filipino artists who we think are to be watched out for, with their revolutionary style and unique way of storytelling.
Art is no longer confined to paper sketch pads, pencils, and crayons. While we do have our amazing traditional paper and pen artists, the rise of technology equals to more means to express oneself. That said, the Philippine art scene is thriving now more than ever, inspiring a young generation of artists with their own unique vision, style, and medium.
Here are 10 Filipino artists who we think are to be watched out for, with their revolutionary style and unique way of storytelling.
Gica Tam
Gica is a Filipino illustrator based in New York and Manila and is a partner of Cocomilk Studio. She is known for her magical and dreamlike illustrations of people, objects, food, and scenes. If you’ve seen illustrations of Lara Jean’s outfits on Instagram (or pretty much anywhere on the internet), that was her doing. Along with that, she draws characters from several musicals.
Her style shows an amazing choice of colors and gives this kind of friendly and comfortable feeling whenever someone scrolls though her work.
Iori Espiritu
Craft artist and illustrator Iori Espiritu is known for her adorable ceramics work with faces. As seen on her Instagram page, she makes a lot of mugs that people adore so much that they sell out quickly.
Along with making ceramics, Iori also creates illustrations for children’s books using traditional materials like gouache. She is an illustrator under an Philippine illustrators organization, Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan.
Jilson Tiu
Jilson is photojournalist based in the Philippines known for his authentic, often-cinematic storytelling through photos. His work expresses the real state of the country that will make anyone change their perspective of Manila.
He has also been featured and has collaborated with big brands and platforms like Instagram for his emotionally charged body of work.
Bad Student
Bad Student is a Manila-based risograph press and a design studio by duo Pau Tiu and Dyam Gonzales. They print amazing work with risograph, including zines, art prints, and catalogues that show vibrant and colorful artwork.
Arvi Fetalvero
Known for her intricate lace paintings, traditional artist Arvi carefully draws each and every detail and fold of lace in her work, capturing it’s beautiful design, texture, and most importantly, the patience it takes to complete one beautiful masterpiece. She works with traditional materials, and sometimes with artist husband Ioannis Sicuya.
Quiccs
Juanito Maiquez or Quiccs, is a Filipino street artist and toy designer who made TEQ63, the toy to be owned worldwide. TEQ63 is a vinyl Japanese-inspired collectible robot toy who is the flagship character of all his work.
Quiccs has expressed his love for Japanese robot culture and Hip Hop influences through his toy work and illustrations, which in turn, motivated him to launch his own designer toy line. So, who said toys are made just for kids?
John David Maza
Creator of typaces Maragsa, and Bantayog, John shares the story of the Philippines, especially of Visayas, through his typefaces. Each one has a deep, rooted history that is linked to the rich culture of the country.
Jellyfish Kisses
Anton Belardo’s persona Jellyfish Kisses is surely the one who catches everyone’s attention in his neon green wig and extravagant, otherworldly makeup. His everyday look is evident in his work that’s inspired by the candy-coated and vibrant ’50s and ’60s.
But it’s not just his colorful look that everyone loves, it’s also his interactive installation work like The Jellyfish Karaokeor the Jellyfish Panic Room. Whatever it is, Jellyfishkisses’ unconventional way of expressing is truly amazing despite what some people would say.
Faye Pamintuan
Faye is a Bulacan-based visual artist who uses oil paint and watercolor as her main mediums. Her work is influenced by the changes in environment when she travels to and from Texas and Bulacan, the two cities she lives in.
Having to go to and from the opposite sides of the world led Faye to create work from the things she deals with — the surroundings, boundaries, and experiences.
Coast Moriya
Let’s not forget that music is also a form of art, and Coast Moriya proves that. Formed by Filipino artist and Music Producer Michael Lorenzana, Coast Moriya‘s music is meditative and atmospheric. The first EP Showers & Whispers is described as “a collage of relaxing chords and melodies, the EP is a source of meditative sounds and introspective isolation.“ Hydrangea has also been released a single.
Whatever the medium is, what makes one an artist is the capability to express oneself. We can already see how in 2020 or even centuries later, we won’t run out of the unique vision every artist has because we’re not bound to anything. We live in a modern world with modern ways and therefore our thinking evolves as well. Our work doesn’t need to be limited to just the paper and pencil, and this list proves that.
