He and his artist-wife, Plet C. Bolipata, live in San Antonio, Zambales. One of the four, 'Laklak,' is also in exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum while the other two have been acquired by the Singapore Art Museum.This image of a street kid using his own shirt as blanket was sparked by a sighting of a street kid in the Cubao overpass. It was an attempt to return to doing personal work. The same painting that made her want to meet the artist behind it. In the same year, Borlongan married Plet Bolipata, and the couple settled in the Borlongan family property in Mandaluyong City. “Yung mga early works namin wala naman pumapansin,” the artist adds.In the Met show, 'Kumot' appears with a pencil sketch study, which is usually the start of the artist’s process. It was so lifelike.” He just injected the little details: a rosary he saw in his father’s car, the naughty look in the driver’s face as if suspicious his seatmate was up to no good.This was also the painting Plet Bolipata saw on the glass window while walking in Megamall one day in 1994. “The search is really matagal,” he says, “the experimentation, [with] the form, the content. This gave Emong his first major recognition when it won second prize at the 1988 Metrobank Annual Painting Competition.
Finding the style he can call his own took a while, the artist admits. 'Kumot' skipped the color studies.This won Honorable Mention in a YMCA art contest in 1979, when high schoolers were allowed, according to Emong, to join the college category. See more ideas about Elmer, Philippine art, Art. Habang tumatagal nadadagdagan ang palette ko.”The title of the piece comes from the tagline of the popular ad for Baguio Oil, the cement-filled cans the human figure tries to hold up in the painting.From the show “God Bless Our Trip,” his second one-man exhibit, this piece is significant because a certain Ben Cabrera bought it. 'Rehimen' is signature socialist-period Emong: the brushwork bold, the image clearly socially aware, depicting a seat of power (inspired by the Marlboro seal) guarded by a flock of dogs; below them a gaunt figure which the artist says represents the marginalized Filipinos.Without budget for a proper frame, Borlongan and his brother built the frame themselves and painted it red to match the image. 1967. Borlongan was born at 7:25 AM on January 7, 1967 at De Ocampo Memorial Medical Center in He began his formal art education in 1978, at the young age of eleven, taking up Sena also contributed to Borlongan's artistic development by convincing him to enroll in a fine arts course instead of taking up architecture as he had originally planned.Borlongan's exposure to the poor areas in Tondo in Manila and in Montalban and Antipolo in Rizal province where he apprenticed under Sena during workshops would help provide Borlongan with much of the imagery that would become the subjects of his later works.Borlongan came of age in a period of significant social tumult in the Philippines - contributing to the social awareness inherent in Borlongan's work.Here Borlongan became a founding member of the famed Grupong Salingpusa, initially an informal group of young student artists which would later become significant voices in the Philippine contemporary art movement, including such figures as A subset of Grupong Salingpusa, consisting of Borlongan, Mallari, Flores, In his second year in college, Borlongan was selected as a delegate to the ASEAN Youth Painting Workshop and Exhibition, which was held at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Borlongan got his bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, major in Painting, in 1987.By the time of Borlongan's graduation, the Philippines' socioeconomic and political climate was still tumultuous.Borlongan immediately found himself using his art to engage the Filipino's social awareness.