The 368-page tome is written by Italian art critic Demetri Paparoni.
Right after launching Stephanie Kienle-Gonzalez’s first book, Rizzoli will now feature the life and career of Andres Barrioquinto.
The book is written Demetri Paparoni, who describes Barrioquinto as a rising star of the contemporary Southeast Asian art scene.
“The volume deals with the complex universe of the artist, who combines elements deriving from the
iconography and aesthetic of Baroque with Japanese woodcuts (ukiyo-e), reinterpreted in a Pop style,” writes Paparoni. “In his recent paintings, men, women, and anthropomorphic animals are shown in forests plentiful with butterflies and birds, introducing the theme of vanitas in a context of strong visual impact.
Born in Manila in 1976, Barrioquinto spent his teenage years in Hong Kong before returning to the Philippines in the late 1990s. He has had more than twenty solo exhibitions in his home country, Singapore, Taipei and the UK. His most recent exhibitions include Portraits by Barrioquinto at the National Museum of the Philippines in 2018 as well as It Will All End in Tears at the START Art Fair hosted by London’s Saatchi Gallery.
While still in university, he placed first in the oil painting category of Metrobank Foundation’s 15th
Young Painter’s Annual National Painting Competition in 1998. Half a decade later, he was one of the recipients of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Thirteen Artists award. Barrioquinto’s 2005 work “Alcoholic” later entered the collection of the Singapore Art Museum.
Worlds collide
Paparoni says that Barrioquinto introduces the dynamics of the visual vortex generated by the digital revolution.
A piece from the artist’s 2016 series “Lost in the Woods” 
“Jewel Skull of Sadness” (2019)
“The works of Andres Barrioquinto offer us significant points of discussion as to how the perception and
comprehension of the world has changed in the new millennium,” he writes. “The method he uses to construct his imagery considers the artist a receptor who captures signals from both the external world and from the
interior dimension—a process that triggers a short circuit, whereby an accumulation and overabundance of
images is inevitably generated.”
An Italian art critic, curator and essayist, Paparoni has written and edited numerous books and monographs, including: Wang Guangyi (2013), Natee Utarit (2017), and our own Ronald Ventura (2018). At the moment he is the editor of the art section in the Sunday edition of the Italian newspaper Domani.
The new book welcomes contributions from the likes of Patrick Duarte Flores, who is Professor of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines. A director of the Philippine Contemporary Art Network, he is the curator of the Vargas Museum as well as the Philippine Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Elio Cappuccio, and Ricky Francisco also contributed.
The 368-page hardcover book contains 250 color illustrations costs $95, and will be available next month.
Photos courtesy of RIZZOLI INTERNATIONAL
Banner: “A Fish in the Sea of Tears” (2020)
