26 Facts About Roy Veneracion

Roy Veneracion is considered one of the leading abstract artists in the Philippines and the precursor of contemporary Aesthetic Syncretism.

Roy Veneracion's work is associated with the Syncretism art movement in the Philippines and abroad.

Roy Veneracion attended elementary school at the Espiritu Santo Parochial School in Santa Cruz, Manila, a Catholic school run by Belgian nuns, where Veneracion earned early recognition for his artistic skills, and was recognized as an art prodigy.

Roy Veneracion has stated that he has no memory of drawing in the manner of children of his age.

Roy Veneracion was later gifted an art book on figure drawing, an oil paintbox, and a boxed set of pastel colors by his uncle as his artistic abilities grew.

Roy Veneracion received 35 pesos for each drawing, and the works were displayed along the corridors of the U E classrooms where he attended his senior years in high school.

Roy Veneracion was the second eldest son in a family of four children.

Roy Veneracion pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts.

Roy Veneracion majored in advertising instead of painting due to his parents' concerns about the financial security of an art career.

Roy Veneracion was popular with his fine arts professors because he performed well academically, and because of his advanced skills in classical media, including oil and watercolor still life painting and drawings of classical sculptures.

Roy Veneracion was awarded first prize for his illustrations for his editorial design thesis.

In 1970, Roy Veneracion married Susan Lopez, a fashion model and Binibining Pilipinas finalist, and had their first child, Rachel.

Roy Veneracion found jobs in advertising agencies and worked in the creative department of PhilProm.

Roy Veneracion was not fired, but chose to resign to pursue a career as an artist.

Roy Veneracion's work was displayed in group exhibitions at the Galerie Bleue in Makati.

In 1974, at the encouragement of some former classmates, Roy Veneracion entered an art contest sponsored by the newly founded Miladay Art Gallery in Makati.

Roy Veneracion did not win the competition, but was offered a personal exhibition of his work the same year.

In 1980 and 1981, Roy Veneracion was made artist-in-residence of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and was a frequent artist at the CCP Annual Exhibitions organized by museum director Raymundo Albano.

Roy Veneracion made a painting symbolically depicting the events, and participated in the revolution with his wife and their children Rachel and Ian, and artist Noberto Carating.

Roy Veneracion's work aims to adhere to four main goals, outlined in his written work The Syncretism Manifesto:.

Roy Veneracion's painting style consists of pouring oil paint onto puddles of water on prepared board panels laid flat on the floor, which are tilted to make the mixture flow in various directions creating rainbows of colors that form unpredictable configurations.

Roy Veneracion is known to use unconventional items during painting, including soil, pebbles, nails, twigs, and print markings of his body.

Roy Veneracion has drawn inspiration from artists such as Bobby Chabet, Jose Joya, Virginia Flor-Agbayani, Rod Paras-Perez, and Billy Abueva.

Roy Veneracion's influences were expanded during his time abroad in Japan, Europe, and the USA, where he saw the works of major artists of 1970s and 1980s such as Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Sigmar Polke, Eric Fischl, and David Salle.

Roy Veneracion laid the foundations of his syncretism style through the blending of the different cultures and art styles he had witnessed, including his own local context and lived experience.

The role of an artist as conceptualizer of ideas coupled with the revolutionary nature of an avant-garde practitioner who sees the virtues of both the ideal and the unified are signified in the forms that Roy Veneracion deploys through a combination of approaches and perspectives.