Carzen Esprela

(b. South Cotabato, PH, 1994) graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2016. His work ‘Bag in a Boat’ has been featured in various public spaces and art exhibitions such as at Tin-aw Art Gallery, Art in the Park, UP Fine Arts grounds, and the UP Vargas Museum. His works study the intricacies of memory and remembering especially people and places that made an impact on his life. His first solo exhibition titled Hinumdom, which means ‘to look back’ in the Visayan vernacular was held in 2020 at the Pinto Art Museum with the support of Tin-aw Art management.

Celline Mercado

(b. 1997, Pampanga, Philippines) is a Filipina visual artist who explores themes of memory, identity, and mental illness. Her art practice spans a variety of media, from graphite and digital drawings to craft-based sculptural pieces. She has exhibited and published works in Manila, San Francisco, and Melbourne. Aside from her art practice, she has worked as a curatorial researcher, illustrator, and graphic designer.

She holds BFAs in Information Design and Art Management from the Ateneo de Manila University. Currently based in Australia, she is pursuing a Master of Fine Art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Chalk Zaldivar

(b.1989); Chalk Zaldivar presents a satirical take on social and political issues using exaggerated imagery and humorous text. He developed a distinct, recognizable visual language that makes light out of dark situations. His long tongue-in-cheek titles are part of the work, a technique he uses to tell a dark comedic story and make it his own. His themes critique our non-confrontational society, advocating the practice of release and admittance of tension rather than internalization for the sake of political correctness.

At first glance, his paintings and drawings appear playful and lighthearted, with pop and pastel color palettes and cartoon-like images. Upon closer inspection, unsettling details emerge. Art is Zaldivar’s outlet for humor, and despite the forbidden territories he navigates, his perspective is not to be taken too seriously.

Ian Anderson

Ian Anderson debuted with a mural commissioned by Cartoon Network in 2016 at their headquarters in Burbank, California. The piece was in the form of a six-floor hand-painted maze, complete with an inherent “start to finish” solution. This was followed up with a solo exhibition at the same studio that solidified the launch of Ian’s career as an artist.

In 2017, Ian Anderson began his international ventures to develop a clientele outside the United States. To start, he had a solo exhibition in Tokyo which incorporated performance art and shibari into his work.

In 2018, he had his first show in the Philippines where he is now based. The group show at Leon Gallery International featured Ian’s “In the Near Distance” collection. In 2022, he exhibited at Leon Gallery International with a solo show. Today, Anderson’s regular clients are collectors in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The works of Ian Anderson are characterized as meticulous and extremely labor intensive hand-drawn art on two or three-dimensional objects. It mixes the abstract and the
figurative, weaving characters and text to create distinct visual narratives. Puzzles, mazes, games, and whimsical figures are playfully integrated into the themes.

Kim Borja

(b. 1999) Drawing viewers with her inverted and luminescent palette, emerging artist Kim Borja infuses elements from children’s stories, with wide-eyed characters expressing melancholy and grief. Borja’s works have have been part of various exhibitions and art festivals across the country.

Miguel Puyat

(b. 1993, Philippines) is an interdisciplinary artist who works with installations, sculptures, drawings, textile, and new media. Puyat explores a range of narratives that hint at existentialism, nostalgia, and subcultures as he examines the transformation, improvisation, and re-configuration of materials, sound, and images.

Since 2011, he has exhibited extensively in different art spaces and galleries in Manila. Puyat studied Fine Arts (Painting) at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and received an artist residency from Light and Space Contemporary through their LSC-AIR program in 2013.

Explore Artists