Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Ronald Ventura the 39 year old Filipino contemporary artist noted for paintings featuring complex layering, combining images and styles ranging from hyperrealism to cartoons and graffiti has been profiled by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop in an article published on Blouin Artinfo titled ‘Filipino Artist Ronald Ventura Is Making Connections Across Cultures’, in which she states “Like many emerging artists, early in his career Ronald Ventura tended to sell everything he produced. Now that his reputation is firmly established and he is dreaming of one day setting up a contemporary art museum in Manila …has found himself in the unenviable position of going back to collectors to buy back key pieces. …says he was stunned to find out how much some of his older works had appreciated. “A couple of years ago, I was looking for a good drawing that I had done. Most of my drawings are usually covered in paint, but I was looking for a drawing that wasn’t. When I found out the price I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. It was 10 times more than the original gallery price,” he said, his laugh underscoring his mixed emotions at the steep price increase. …The artist has learned his lesson. He says he now keeps one artwork from every solo exhibition. At the rate his pieces are selling, he should. In his latest show, “recyclables,” held at the Singapore Tyler Print institute, 70 percent of the works were sold by the morning of the opening. …Ventura loves nothing more than to subvert familiar cartoon figures, such as Mickey Mouse or a dwarf from Snow White, giving them a “new reality” with the help of a skull or a gas mask. The artist has risen to prominence on the Asian contemporary art scene with complex, layered works that juxtapose unexpected images, often rather dark — internal organs with flowers and butterflies, or a clown and a gas mask — always rendered with exquisite draughtsmanship. He is known for mixing different styles, such as hyperrealism and Surrealism, cartoons and graffiti.”

Inspired by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, Blouin Artinfo ow.ly/j4IEo Image source ManilaArtBlogger ow.ly/j4Izv

How dare you disobey your masters (September 9th)

Ali Farzat the 60 year old Syrian political cartoonist and head of the Arab Cartoonists’ Association has been pulled from his vehicle and beaten by masked Syrian security forces gunmen, leaving him on the side of a road with both hands broken. While targeting his hands, Farzat was cautioned this is “just a warning”. Farzat had been publishing anti-regime cartoons targeting government figures, including an image of a running sweaty President Bashar al-Assad clutching a briefcase, heading towards the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, supposedly to catch a ride with the anxiously seated dictator in a getaway car. Syrian opposition members are outraged with the brutality of the attack on Farzat, a reminder of another victim Ibrahim al-Qashoush, found dead with his vocal chords removed after he composed a popular anti-regime song.

Inspired by Helen Stoilas http://ow.ly/6fig0 image source keprtv http://ow.ly/6fif6