Ronal Ventura "Metaphysics of Skin"

Take Chuck Close, KAWS, Murakami and maybe a little bit of Jeff Koons, put that in a pot, and you get Ronald Ventura, the filipino artist.

The fact that he was a filipino artist is what had me drawn to this show. It's hard to find them around, but I was pleased with this one. After wetting myself over the fact that I found someone from the mother land, I swooned over this work.

It was like a testimony to skill, and allowing yourself to get fun with it. How often do we see a photorealistic painting and thing of adding Disney drawings to it? Or random graphic grafitti type elements? I mean unless we are Dada-ists, I don't think many of us do. So to see the combination of photorealism and cartoon was fun.

His work is what I sort of want to do. Mix the skill with the playfulness. If I had the degree of technical ability that Mr. Ventura has, I might as well be a clone. I honestly just want to rip off his style, because his style is what I want.

This was one of the more inspiring shows I have seen. Not only does the artist do the type of work that I can only hope to wish to do, but he is also of the same nationality. There is some pride in that.

(Images from the Tyler Rollins Fine Art)