Ronald Ventura

The work is in overall good condition. The paint layers are intact and bright. Under ultraviolet light inspection there are no signs of retouching. Framed in the artist's original frame.
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"In his narrative, both humans and animals are under observation, exposed to the system's exploitative gaze".

Ronald Ventura, Realities, Damiani editore, Italy, 2011, pg.20.

In the present work aptly titled Hunting Ground (Into the Woods), highly acclaimed Filipino artist Ronald Ventura continues to experiment and push boundaries with his exciting array of characters that only come together in the surreal environments that have defined his oeuvre. The artist’s subversive messaging throughout the paintings has garnered the works with coded meanings that play with semiotics and commercial appropriation.

In the current piece he continues with his study on the natural environment reimagined in colorful scenarios, images that call forth fairytales and mythologies. Hunting Ground (Into the Woods) is one of the few paintings from the artist that shows him also using the frame as part of the overall work. Together with Ventura’s tongue in cheek dream-like narratives that teeter between fact and fiction, the inclusion of the frame further establishes the dark and enigmatic mood of the painting. As if the artist is beckoning the audience to come join him in this fantastical and haunting world.