Born and raised in the island province of Cebu in the Philippines, artist Dennis Montera creates abstract artwork that employs additive and reductive methods in multi-layered paintings “whose intrinsic value are appropriated from real life experiences and reflections of my surrounding environment.”
A Delightful Distraction, mixed media on canvas, 36 x 24"
Through random gesture work and bold color, Montera aims to honor the non-figurative expressionist movement that emerged in New York during the 1950s. “Specializing in abstraction in our part of Southeast Asia was not an easy path as more traditional art forms persist to this day. However, the energy and excitement in creating unpremeditated form surpassed my desire for representational art,” says Montera. Through the years, he has honed his skills by utilizing acrylics and non-traditional media to create wholly unique mixed media works.
Icon of the Child King, mixed media on canvas, 36 x 24"
“[A Delightful Distraction] explores the concept of playful randomness in the act of painting. As such, I get the inspiration of being absent-minded as a ploy for brushwork, excoriations and splashing of pigment to arrive at a distracted outcome in visual composition,” Montera says of his recent painting. Another recent work, Icon of the Child King, features bold shades of crimson. “Although arbitrary in symbolism, the artwork’s colors and minimal lines pay homage to the religious image of the Child Jesus dressed in a King’s garb (Santo Niño). This devotion is especially popular in our island [dating back to]when the navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached our shores in 1521 and claimed the country on behalf of the Spanish King, thus bringing Christianity to the majority of the Philippine archipelago thereafter,” says the artist.
Throughout his three-decade career, Montera has shown in nearly 30 exhibitions and numerous Asian art fairs. He also teaches as a full professor in the fine arts program at the University Philippines Cebu. —
Dennis Montera
Cebu City, Philippines • siomontera@gmail.com • www.siomontera.com
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