Leeroy New (born 1986) is a contemporary Filipino fine artist whose works overlap with theatre, film, fashion, and visual arts. He is known for his collaborations with fashion designer Kermit Tesoro.
New was born 1986 in General Santos City. [1] He graduated from the Philippine High School for the Arts and from the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines. He has been drawing for as long as he can remember his hands being consciously mobile.[ citation needed ]
Prior to becoming renowned for his collaboration with Kermit Tesoro, New had already gained prestige in the fine arts industry. His works have been exhibited in the Singapore Biennale back in 2008, as well as the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale in 2009.[ citation needed ]
In July 2010, New opened an installation at the Ateneo Art Gallery (Formerly Rizal Library) that he called Balete. [2] Inspired by Buddhist monks' saffron robes and the native Filipino balete vine, New used flexible orange casing used for electric conduits accented by plastic cable ties to form his unique perception of the balete vine. These pieces intertwined with the exterior and interior architecture of the art gallery. Balete remained on display at the Ateneo Art Gallery until December of the same year.[ citation needed ]
In December 2011, New launched Psychopomp's Reef at the Bonifacio Global City Offsite Gallery. [3] Here he used the same orange electrical conduits and cable ties previously seen in Balete to create 'a space populated with otherworldly fauna.' The site remained open to visitors until February 2012.[ citation needed ]
In Fall of 2010, New teamed up with designer Kermit Tesoro to release a sci-fi inspired collection for the Philippine Fashion Week. [4] This marks his second collaboration with the designer, the first one being his head sculpture designs for Tesoro's Spring 2009 collection. Using non-traditional design techniques and materials such as rubber, nylon, glass, and metal, to create unique, artistic looks.[ citation needed ]
In 2011, New was commissioned by renowned stylist Nicola Formichetti, a member of Lady Gaga's creative team, The Haus of Gaga. Inspired by his previous Fall 2010 collaboration with designer Tesoro, New made a cast of Gaga's body with previously sent in measurements, then sculpted the dress with clay and molded with silicon. According to Gaga, the dress was used in tandem with a continuation of her series on body modification, following the Born This Way era. She also stated that the indentation of the dress mirrored that of the face of her alter-ego, Yüyi the Mermaid.[ citation needed ]
In October 2013, New launched a solo exhibit called Gates Of Hell' [5] [6] at the Manila Contemporary. Described as "a product of his generation's fascination with pop culture, graphic novels, sci-fi literature and industrial design", New creates a landscape built specifically as home to his iconic cast of aliens and monsters.[ citation needed ]
When asked about the inspiration for the exhibit, he shares,
To me, there’s no difference like how we believe these aswangs and monsters and this whole mythology of religion to sci-fi mythology. It’s all this desire to come up with stories to guide us in our experience in our daily lives. There’s a need to kind of fill this spiritual vacuum, be it in the form of aswang stories, folktales, or religious mythology and this projection of a fantasy future through sci-fi and superheroes, graphic novels or whatever.
— Leeroy New, [7]
The exhibit was divided into three parts, a cave made of mangrove root formations, a hanging latex installation, and an area filled with floating geometrical structures. The exhibit closed November 2013.[ citation needed ]
On being an artist, New states he prefers to be the kind that "can project his sensibilities into whatever form or medium he chooses to utilize for whatever reason". [8] He also says, "[the] idea of public art, and transforming your immediate environment—it’s more of an active participation for me to transform the environment. It's my way of contributing and transforming my society". [9] As a child his parents referred to him as 'a member of the Addam's Family' because of his weirdness [10] as well as his fascination for horror and Philippine folklore.[ citation needed ]
He is also known for making TV show props and costumes. He enjoys working on props that allow him to design from a grand scale. It seems he does not favor any particular medium, rather he loves experimenting with and exploring as many mediums as he possibly can. His childhood dream is to work on a movie set, where he can dictate the form and appearance of the set he is being asked to create.[ citation needed ]
When asked about working on fashion pieces, his basic principles are applied in a similar way, albeit slightly different. He admires the works of Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, and Eiko Ishioka. He is also interested in eventually making toys.[ citation needed ]
Many of his works are inspired by mythology, film, video games, and other artists. Besides his fascination for Philippine folklore and western legends, he has expressed interest in Kaiju, or giant monsters in Japanese anime and television. Amongst his other influences, he cites H.R. Giger, Jason and the Argonauts , director Guillermo del Toro, and playing as alien characters in video games such as StarCraft, as well as being a fan of the trading card game Magic: The Gathering. [11]
The manananggal is an old mythical creature in the Philippines that separates from their lower part of body and their fangs and wings give it a vampire-like appearance.
Philippine mythology is the body of stories and epics originating from, and part of, the indigenous Philippine folk religions, which include various ethnic faiths distinct from one another. Philippine mythology is incorporated from various sources, having similarities with Indonesian and Malay myths, as well as Hindu, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian traditions, such as the notion of heaven, hell, and the human soul. Philippine mythology attempts to explain the nature of the world through the lives and actions of heroes, deities, and mythological creatures. The majority of these myths were passed on through oral tradition, and preserved through the aid of community spiritual leaders or shamans and community elders.
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. Nicknamed the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the first-ever to be recognized as a National Artist of the Philippines. He was recognized as such for his "pioneering use of impressionistic technique" as well as his skill in the use of lighting and backlighting in his paintings, "significant not only in the development of Philippine art but also in the formation of Filipino notions of self and identity."
Mich Dulce is a Filipina fashion designer, milliner, corsetiere, feminist activist, actress, artist and vocalist of bands Death By Tampon, Us-2 Evil-0 and The Male Gaze.
Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco, known professionally as Heart Evangelista, is a Filipino actress, artist, businesswoman, and socialite.
Clem Arnold Lawrence Arre is a Filipino comic book writer, artist and self-taught animator best known for his graphic novels The Mythology Class (1999) and Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat (2006). He was born in Metro Manila, Philippines.
Erika Chryselle Gonzales Gancayco, better known by her stage name Erich Gonzales, is a Filipino actress. She is a contract artist of ABS-CBN's Star Magic. She started her showbiz career at the age of 14, as a contestant of the reality talent search Star Circle Quest. She came to prominence in her lead role Katorse.
Arturo Rogerio Dimayuga Luz was a Filipino visual artist. He was also a known printmaker, sculptor, designer and art administrator.
Arthur Elgort is an American fashion photographer best known for his work with Vogue magazine.
Romeo Villalva Tabuena was a Filipino painter and printmaker who was born in Iloilo City. He studied architecture at the Mapúa Institute of Technology in Manila and painting at the University of the Philippines. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.
Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalia also called Niko: The Journey to Magika in English-speaking countries, is a 2008 Filipino animated adventure-fantasy comedy film and the Philippines' first all-digital full-length animated feature film. Produced by Cutting Edge Productions, the film revolves around Bubuy who has to save his grandparents who were abducted and brought to the strange land called Elementalia, home to a host of strange creatures from Philippine mythology. This $1.3 million production composed of over 500 local animators features a “tra-digital animation” technique using paperless 2D and 3D technologies. It has 2D animation for its characters and 3D animation for the backdrops.
Marcel Antonio is a Filipino painter. Considered one of the most promising young talents in Philippine contemporary art while still attending the University of the Philippines' College of Fine Arts in the late 1980s, he launched a solo show and thereafter dropped out of the college to continue to produce collections of his distinctly narrative as well as pseudo-narrative figurative paintings influenced by modernism and 1980s postmodernism. Since then, Antonio produced enough sold-out works to be quickly counted as one of the Philippines' young painters most proficient in the magic realist sort of post-expressionism in the country.
Trese is a Filipino komik series written by Budjette Tan and illustrated by Kajo Baldisimo. It tells the story of Alexandra Trese, a detective who deals with crimes of supernatural origin. Its first issue was published in October 22, 2005, starting off as a niche work which grew in popularity as readers were intrigued first by the first two volumes' focus on Manila's urban legends, and then by the later volumes' development of Alexandra Trese as a character. The series went on to win several accolades.
Antonio Gilbuena Austria is a Filipino visual artist.
Christiana Jade de Silva-Ong is a Filipino art director, painter, illustrator and graphic designer. She was known as a "Gifted Child" and a "Promil Kid", being featured in an infant formula ad in 1998. She had three major one-woman exhibits and now a senior art director.
Kermit Tesoro is a Filipino visual, installation, accessory, and fashion designer known for his wide range of styles where 'installation art meets body art'. He is notable for designing elaborate shoes inspired from environs and wildlife, clothes with kinky Filipinized nature patterns and bases, and installations which use tied-up living human bodies as a form of fetish art.
Wilfredo Beltran Alicdan is a Filipino figurative artist. His works are distinguished by their quaint and geometric folk representations, populated by rounded stylized figures usually engaged in traditional and rural activities.
Claudio Suarez Tayag, more popularly known as Claude Tayag, is a Filipino artist, restaurateur and food writer. He is best known for depicting scenes of impressionistic landscapes and scenes of Philippine folk festivals and religious imagery in his art. In recent years, he has written and been involved with Philippine gastronomy both as renowned chef and as food writer with his weekly column, Turo-Turo on The Philippine Star. A scion of the Tayag family of Pampanga, he is the son of author and journalist, Renato D. Tayag.
Ramón Valera was a Filipino fashion designer who was bestowed with the National Artist of the Philippines honor in 2006. He is the first Filipino fashion designer to receive this distinction. In 2017, his work was displayed in an exhibit called Valera and the Modern: An Exhibit on the Life and Work of National Artist for Fashion Design, Ramon Valera which was curated by Gerry Torres at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s School of Design and Arts Gallery.
Antonio "Tony" Diestro Pájaro is a painter from Philippines. Born in Manila, he studied Fine Arts and then took complementary courses in the University of the Philippines (1970), in the University of Bilbao, in the University of the Basque Country (1983), and also researched the art and culture of the Philippine tribes Ifugao, Hanunoo, B'Iaan and T'Boli (1988).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)