Ricky Villabona holds art exhibit
MANILA, Philippines - Television commercial director and photographer Ricky Villabona is having his first one-man show from March 9 to 20 at ArtistSpace in Ayala Museum. Entitled “Someone Left The Cake Out In The Rain,†the exhibit features 12 large canvases that draw on Villabona’s pop culture obsessions. This exhibit follows his participation in the successful group show held in August, last year, at the Pinto Gallery in Antipolo.
Villabona displays paintings that appear to be blown up and cut-up pieces of familiar patterns culled from fashion, graphic design, comic books and pop art. A bold orange hue and a very light shade of aqua predominate the canvases. The works are a bright mash-up of various influences from abstract expressionism to pop art to even music. “I like playing ’70s and ’80s pop while I paint. I can see those things showing up on my work,†he says.
When asked how he got into painting and art, he explains he wanted to draw stuff to be printed on fabric and turn them into some alternative business. The idea eventually grew from doodling designs on his iPad to painting huge patterns on the canvas. He says his graphic design and modern art depict images that could be translated or have been translated into fashion. Villabona supposes this could be traced to his early years of doing fashion photography before he went into directing TV commercials.
His process is free-flowing, spontaneous. “I like the idea of not planning a painting, and seeing where it leads. It’s like cooking with whatever ingredients you find in your kitchen and being in for a surprise.†The result is a playful, buoyant, and spontaneous map of the creative person’s cognitive process. “It’s like creating and destroying, over and over again, until I come to a certain level of peace with the artwork.â€
ArtistSpace is on the ground floor of the Ayala Museum Extension, facing Greenbelt 5 at the Ayala Center, Makati City.
For information, visit www.rickyvillabona.com or email to rickyvillabona@gmail.com.
