The Philippine Art Trek has arrived in Rome! After an immensely successful run in Singapore, where it started in 2007 and went on to exhibit the works of hundreds of Filipino artists over 13 years, raising, in the process, the profile of Philippine visual arts to its now heady heights in Asia, it has found a new home in the Eternal City. For the whole month of November, the embassy’s cultural diplomacy will be focused on the visual arts and feature five Filipino artists in three art exhibitions at various locations throughout Rome.

The Philippines is a fountainhead of the creative arts in Asia, boosted by its long exposure to Western culture while maintaining its indigenous identity, creating a thriving ecosystem of artists, galleries, art schools, collectors and auction houses. It is the natural cultural nexus between Southeast Asia and Italy, between the Indo-Pacific and Europe. Ever since the great Filipino-Spanish painter, Juan Luna, wowed Rome and Madrid with his masterpieces, “Spoliarium” and the “Death of Cleopatra” (both painted in his Via Margutta studio in Rome), Filipino artists, through the decades, have been flocking to Italy to be inspired by its artistic milieu. This Filipino artistic presence has been given a massive boost by the Philippines’ annual participation in the Venice Biennale, drawing the best Filipino artists and architects to this part of Europe.

For its inaugural year, the Philippine Art Trek in Rome will feature two Italy-based artists and three from the

Philippines. Two established art galleries in Rome are participating in this year’s exposition – Dorothy Circus and Atelier Montez.

The first exhibition, “If the Shoe Fits,” showcases the flamboyant sculptures and paintings of Richard Gabriel, who has re-interpreted the ubiquitous shoe into a work of art, converting a functional object of consumerism into a unique piece of art imbued with Filipino flair. Based in Milan, he has been a constant presence in the Milan art scene for decades now.

Dorothy Circus brings to Rome the latest paintings of Blic, Mister Sasquatch and Rene Cuvos, who represent the explosive variety in contemporary Philippine art and their growing international footprint with all three artists exhibiting in galleries around the world to the delight of serious art collectors.

Finally, Atelier Montez surprises and provokes by bringing Paul Alex Samaniego’s hybrid-media abstractions that explore the relationships among memory, imagination and technology in the digital age. Atelier Montez pursues a multi-disciplinary advocacy that uses technology and innovation to democratize access to art while preserving the artist’s creative ownership and integrity.

Together with the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Embassy in Rome invites you to join us in the first Philippine Art Trek in Rome.