Victor Balanon – Lives of the Toll Takers

Victor Balanon (b. 1972) is a self-taught artist based in Quezon City, Philippines.

He started to study dental medicine but left school to pursue his interest in art. 

Being a versatile artist, he produced a varied range of works, in particular generating artworks for films, independent comics and underground music labels. His passion for the arts spurred him to study film and animation at the Mowelfund Film Institute. Whilst there Balanon produced two animated films. 

He has worked as an illustrator creating storyboards, album covers and posters for film, independent comics and alternative music labels and later as an animator for a major Japanese animation company (TOEI Animation).

Balanon probes the nature of man’s collective memory by reinterpreting images from old films and news reels to create a strange yet familiar representation of reality. In a more subtle manner, he also attempts to reconcile his ethnic roots with global/colonial influence by his distinct handling of ink to mimic images from popular media. 

In his animated video art projects, he also employs the paradox and ironies that are inherent in art-making practices. There is an attempt to visually represent the thought-process in studio work, the transit from static to dynamic frames, the quandary over stillness vs. motion, and the intervention of artifice on nature.

Currently, he is a co-organizer of a moving-image centered artist-run initiative called Lost Frames where programs focus on providing a platform for screening video works, discussions, and artist talks.

He had his first solo exhibition in 2011 and has completed 20 exhibitions to date. His works has been shown at the Jakarta Biennale, the Manila Biennale, the Jewish Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, the University of the Philippines’ Vargas Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts and the Singapore Art Museum.