![drybrush Gallery - Philippine/Local artists - Aaron Bautista - Painter](https://img.drybrush.com/WAdsRusFjeeKDGYWKel9VHo6dnPeRQrEcoL83iyyjSw/fit/1080/1122/ce/0/plain/https://drybrush.com/storage/18834/Aaron-Bautista.jpg@webp)
Aaron Bautista
7 Artworks
Biography
Aaron Bautista is a painter, art teacher, and barangay councilor of Poblacion Ibaba, Angono Rizal. He received from the Municipality of Angono the "Natatanging Mamamayan" award for excellence in art in 2012. He has also held 14 solo exhibitions since 2001 in various galleries in Angono, Manila, and abroad. He was a resident artist of the Neo-Angono Artists Collective with the Taring Padi Art Exchange Program in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2012. He was also a participant in the Art Dialogo art exchange project, which was exhibited in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2016.
Aaron was a finalist in the 1994 and 1995 Shell National Student Art Competition and a Top 10 finalist in the 1995 Metrobank Painting Competition. He studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts in 1996. Aaron's 15th solo exhibit, titled "Espectro" (September 7–30, 2019 at Angkla Art Gallery), presents a gallery of his innovation, experimentation, and exploration of the wide-range possibilities of art-making processes for half a decade. His Jackson Pollock-inspired drip paintings and mixed media works on canvas using oil, acrylic, and enamel paint frequently explore themes like the destruction of a rural setting by urban and commercial landscapes, as well as his conscious reclamation and recreation of his childhood past and the collective memory of his town and the people where he found his faith, life, and love.
Lately, Aaron's geometric patterns and curvilinear shapes, minimalist, saturated, and colorful abstract and conceptual works—inspired by American artists Sol Lewitt and Frank Stella—have been conceived by his meticulous choice and deep thought, an insight he has gained from Lewitt's credo:" When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art."
"Espectro" celebrates Aaron's uncommon practice in the context of the Angono painting tradition. His pivotal works create new perceptions, revealing a spectrum of possibilities for visual extrapolation. While he concentrates on patterns, geometry, and repetition, he remains grounded in his roots—the heart and soul of Angono, where he found his faith, life, and love.