Ronald Ventura (Filipino, b.1973) was born in Manila, Philippines. In 1993, the artist earned a BFA in Painting from the University of Santo Tomas. After graduating, he worked at the university as an instructor. Ventura had his first solo exhibitions in 2000, called All Souls Day, which was held at the Drawing Room in Makati City, Philippines, and Innerscapes, which was held at the West Gallery Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
Since then, Ventura has continued to refine his signature style of multi-layered paintings, which utilize a broad range of imagery and tend to focus around the human form. In addition to paintings, Ventura also makes sculptures that explore the same themes and aesthetics as his two-dimensional works. In 2001, he received the Artist of the Year prize from Art Manilla, and then in 2005, he won the prestigious Ateneo Art Gallery, Studio Residency Grant in Sydney, Australia, for his The Human Study series of graphite works on canvas. He also participated in the Prague Biennale in 2009.
Ventura had his first exhibition in America at Tyler Rollins Fine Art Gallery in New York in 2009; Metaphysics of Skin contained paintings and the Zoomanities sculpture series. The same gallery hosted his A Thousand Islandsshow in 2011. That same year, Ventura’s Greyhound sold for US$1.1 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Southeast Asian Painting auction in Hong Kong.