Bembol dela Cruz

Bembol de la Cruz presents human figures imprinted with articulate forms and symbols: tattoo. Their bodies against a background of dissolved shadows, they are uninhibited in revealing their marks-ethnic symbols, typographical flourishes, the Sacred Heart-whose significance lies in as much as their emergence from pain as their evocation of personal histories. 

The artist, by approximating the tattooed bodies, inflects stasis and attention to this artform whose appeal and unique characteristic is that it is carved on living and moving flesh. The tattoo's indelibility is, in itself, an ironic statement: the inks and marks will outlive the skin, but only for a certain time, as the tattoo is consumed by mortality just like the rest of the body. 

"Indelible," curated by Roberto Chabet, is as much representation as document after the fact. It venerates tattoo as a valid form of art whose beauty lies precisely on being rendered on a corruptible canvas, contextualizing it in the broader scope of image-making: the assortment of meaning-infused marks with which we ink our passage through life. (from notes from his exhibit "Indelible" at Finale)

B. June 1976 , Manila, Philippines

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
1998 - 2 002 University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, College of Fine Arts,
Studio Arts Department, Major in Painting. 

SOLO EXHIBITS

August 2007 AERIAL West Gallery
LANDSCAPE 48 West Ave., Quezon City
curated by Roberto Chabet

April 2007 Accidental Mag:net Gallery, 
Abstraction Paseo Center, Makati City 
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet

February 2007 MEASURES FINALE Gallery
SM Megamall, Level 4, Bldg. A, mandaluyong City
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet

April 2006 The History Mag:net Gallery
of Things The Loop, ABS-CBN Compound, Quezon City
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS

August 2007 Sungdu-an 4: Xavier University Museum
ExTensions NCCA Project.
Cagayan De Oro, Phil

August 2007 I Have Nothing Mo_space.
to Paint and I’m curated by Nilo Ilarde and Roberto Chabet
Painting It Bonifacio High St., Global City Taguig

July 2007 Manila thityninehotel (multimedia space)
Envelope curated by Jenifer Wofford and Trisha Goldberg
39 N. Hotel Street, Honolulu, Hawaii

September 2006 The Blank West Gallery
Show curated by Roberto Chabet
48 West Ave., Quezon City

September 2006 Manila Worth Ryder Gallery
Envelope curated by Jennifer Wofford
Berkeley, California USA

September 2006 Missing Green Papaya 
Vocabularies Maginhawa, Teachers Village, Quezon City

July 2006 two packs of Future Prospects
cigarette & Marikina Shoe Expo Cubao, Quezon City
four cups of
coffee


June 2006 Long Goodbye Mag:net Gallery
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet
Katipunan, Quezon City


June 2006 Mirror/Mask West Gallery
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet
48 West Ave, Quezon City


March 2006 Common and Future Prospects,
Uncommon Marikina Shoe Expo Cubao, Quezon City
Goods curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet

February 2006 Paint it Black West Gallery
curated by Nilo Ilarde
48 West Avenue, Quezon City

November 2005 Hayop?…!!?? Mag:net Galllery, 
curated by Nilo Ilarde and Roberto Chabet
Paseo Center, Makati City

September 2005 Flippin-Out Goliath Visual Space, 
Dobbin St. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA

July 2005 Other Matters Future Prospects
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet Marikina Shoe Expo Cubao, Quezon City

April 2005 Streets2K5 Albus Cavus Gallery
New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

March 2005 Urban Edge ViaPestalozzi 4(navigli zone)
Milan, Italy

October 2004 Inventory The Cubicle Art Gallery 
curated by Mr. Roberto Chabet
40-A C. Raymundo, cor. Stella Mariz, Maybunga, 
Pasig City

June 2004 Annoyance Big&Small Art Co.
Level 4, Bldg. A, Megamall, Mandaluyong City,

July 2002 Unfinished White Wall Gallery
Overworked Crowded House U.P., Diliman, Quezon City

April 2000 True Copies MSG Gallery
Loyola Heights, Quezon City

March 2000 Polarity West Gallery
48 West Avenue, Quezon City



AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

August 2007 Shostlisted
4th Ateneo Art Awards: Global/Vernacular
for exhibit “Measures”

August 2006 Shortlisted
3rd Ateneo Art Awards: Outbound
for exhibit “The History of Things”

January 2006 Book Cover Design
“The Hoplite Journal” by Martin Anderson
Shearsman Book Publishing
United Kingdom

November 2003 1st Best Arm Category, 3rd Best Back Category
“Tattoo Expo II ”
Jekyl and Hyde, Madison Square, Manila

June 2003 2nd Best Large Piece Category (black and gray)
2nd Best Tribal/ Celtic Category Piece (black and gray)
“Live Canvas, Tattoo and Music Festival ”
Music Warehouse, Manila

September 2002 3rd Best Large Piece (black and gray)
“Ink Xposure, Tattoo Competition”, 
Outlet Yard, Quezon Ave., Quezon City

Kulay-Diwa  is a venue for Philippines and Southeast Asian Contemporary Art. Inaugurated on February 7, 1987, Kulay-Diwa, is strategically located within a cluster of communities South of Manila.  It has five independent exhibition areas able to accommodate large-scale works and a garden ideal for programs, performances and sculpture installations.  The goal of the gallery is to discover and promote the works of young, talented but deserving Filipino Artists and to foster cultural interaction and exchanges with the local regions and other countries.

Kulay (Colour)

Diwa  (Spirit, Thought)

Available works: