From year 2000-2010: Fine Arts Professor of the Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts Far Eastern University, Philippines

WORKS ON VIEW AT THE PODIUM From the Philippine Daily Inquirer of Monday September 27, 2004Multi-awarded artist Marcial Pontllas is holding his first one-man exhibition, "Genre of Expressions: MASA," at the Galerie Joaquin at The Podium.Pontillas twice won the grand prize at the PLDT-Directories Phils. Corp.'s Visual Art national painting competition. He also won the grand prizes at the CBCP/UST National Eucharistic Painting Competition, the TSPI-Tulay sa Pag-unlad Painting Contest and the 28th Shell National Art Competition.He has also been a consistent finalist in the Philip Morris, Windsor and Newton and AAP art contests. Recently, he was one of the 5 Jurors Choice awardees at the GSIS painting competition. Pontillas' works call to mind the works of noted expressionists, Danny Dalena and Onib Olmedo. Like Dalena's, Pontillas' works are clearly metaphors for the human condition. *Call: 02 723 9253 or 02 634 7954 GALERIE JOAQUIN The PodiumBUCOLIC ART, URBAN ANGST OFMARCIAL PONTILLASPhilippine Daily Inquirer Expressionist forceIn contrast, Marcial Pontillas, who has won a string of prizes over the last few years, has a markedly expressionistic style that serves him well in his first show, Genre of Expressions: Masa. A native of Camarines Norte, Pontillas has chosen the claustrophobic and chaotic city as [his] subject. With his view of teeming, crowded streets, Pontillas situates his subject from the vantage point of flyovers, overpasses and festive occasions like a religious gathering or a mall offering bargain finds. Pontillas, like Bajados, certainly knows how to conceive his imagery perhaps because of his solid and unwavering brushwork.The places in his canvases are, of course, familiar and all too real: from Quiapo Church during the feast of the Nazarine to a traffic jam atop the overpass during rush hour. There are also scenes of overcrowded city streets during santacruzan, a mammoth gathering of holiday revelers in Ekskursyon or the usual crowd of bargain-hunters in Wagwagan.Pontillas has appropriated some images from the early work of social realists Jeho Bitancor and Emmanuel Garibay, who have powerfully depicted urban squalor and misery in their oeuvre. Pontillas is closer in spirit to Ferdie Montemayor, though he zeroes in on people instead of structures. Dalena also comes to mind, particularly in the Pontillas rendering of figures and color, though the mood in Pontillas is more jubilant, bereft of seething commentary.Ultimately, Pontillas will have to be on his own with his choking view of humanity - and with a city as helplessly congested as this metropolis, he will have more canvasses to paint for his next shows.Author: GINO DORMIENDOE-mail the author at: gdormiendo@yahoo.comTuesday, November 9, 2004 1:15 AM, ABS CBNNEWS and the TODAY NewspaperCrowded drawer: The Art of Marcial Pontillas GALLERY HOPPINGBy CID REYES There is an unmistakable sense of placeness in the works of Marcial Pontillasan image sustained through the years of his youth. The crowd scene has become his trademark, an image of self-proclamation, as well as a blistening indictment of the city of his affection. With the hideous sprawl of an almost derelict metropolis, Metro Manila is a nightmare. In particular, the bustling downtown scene is the quintessential Pontillas subjectits dehumanizing atmosphere and toxic pollution that destroy not only bodies but also our souls. It is true that Pontillas paints these images with an obsessiveness verging on vengeance, but doing so has become salutary for the artist. The gesture is by turns cathartic and aesthetic. Not only does he express his intense observation of the city, but in the process he has also reaped a string of awards. If you happen to have kept in your bodega the 1997-98 telephone directory, you will find on its cover the grand prize-winning work of Pontillas. It is entitled Sama-sama sa Pagdiwang ng Kalayaan (Together in Celebration of Freedom). As such it is one of the artists rare excursions into a festive depiction of the Filipinos predilection for crowding. After all, the subject of the painting is the so-called Fiesta Revolution, though this celebration seems to be held away from Edsa. Its mlange of images is a tumult of details: flower-wreathed carabaos, a brass band, a town church festooned with colorful bunting and, biggest puzzle of all: a bayanihan scene of a nipa hut being transported on the massive shoulders of men. Besides its multitude of bodies, the work disports a Pontillas trademark: a bravura handling of pigment: thick, rich impastos slathered with an almost childlike joy. This configuration of crowd scenes and lush impastos constitute the highly spirited art of Pontillas. When and how did the artist start to paint? Pontillas is the youngest of nine children. His father designed and constructed houses. He studied at the Camarines Norte State College in Bicol, where his talent for art showed when he won in the schools poster competition on themes such as Prevent Malaria and Nutrition. This early exposure to art convinced him that he had found his vocation in life. Pontillas set his heart on enrolling at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) but, as fate would have it, enrollment had already closed. The neighboring school, Far Eastern University (FEU), became his subsequent choice. In Lourd de Veyras profile on Pontillas, he writes: The subject matter or visual theme for which the artist is now associated withthe human and vehicular congestion in Metro Manilafirst came to Pontillas in the daily home-to-school grind. Confronted by this teeming mass of humanity, and choked by the toxic pollution in the air, emitted by thousands of jeepneys, buses and other vehicles, Pontillas decided to capture this quotidian reality on his canvas. This unique image, in fact, was a major factor in what can be considered the artists streak. Indeed, what followed was an avalanche of awards. He claimed the grand prize in the 28th Shell National Students Art Competition (1995) for a piece entitled Sobra Na (Enough is Enough)a depiction of a downtown Manila cityscape. In 1997 Pontillas romped away with another grand prize in an art competition sponsored by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. And thence to Pontillass grand prize in the 1997 PLDT-DPC competition on the theme of Ang Diwa ng Pilipino (The Filipino Spirit).His recent exhibition at the Galerie Joaquin the Podium is, in more ways than one, a recapitulation of his visual theme, submitting it to more specific places rather than a generic sea of humanity. The buildup of bodies is just as thick on the beach or inside a movie house, in a moriones fiesta or santacruzan, in Quiapo Church or at the MRT station. In a couple of works, Pontillas paints a portrait of a kutsero (rigdriver) and a tsuper (jeepney or taxi driver), whose visages are made interesting by certain facial expressions, awake or asleep. What I enjoyed most was the painting of the ukay-ukay, which also goes by that onomatopoeic word, wagwagan. Indeed the sound of hundreds of hand-me-down clothes, being waved and dusted off, is music to our ears. Ukay-ukay is the latest wonder of the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit and to fashion pizzazz. It is also the latest of Pontillass crowd-drawer scenes.Interestingly, by the simple expedient of changing location, Pontillas imbues his works with national values. Thus a painting of a crowd-filled church carries with it an implicit spirituality of our people. The same applies to his fiesta scenes where our extreme conviviality comes into the fore. Certainly, these works bear the architectural landscape of the times: the ubiquitous flyovers and overpasses, the familiar landmarks of commerce and religion. Pontillas even saw fit to do a plaster sculpture of an overpass stairway, symbol of our peoples torturous ascent to progress and our precipitous decline into economic despondency. But hey! No matter. Artists in other populous citiesNew York, Tokyo, Londonhave equally created their own allegorical realism, harsh and bleak and doom-laden. Remember T.S. Eliots The Wasteland: A crowd flowed under London Bridge. I had not known death had undone so may. But our walking, wounded masa, with their pluck and humor, will not be undone. So long as we have our karaokes to sing our woes away. Now, theresanother subject for Marcial Pontillas.Author: CID REYES/TODAYDescription : SOLO EXHIBIT 21 September 2004 "PONTILLAS GENRE OF EXPRESSIONS, Masa" at THE PODIUM, Galerie Joaquin Lower Ground Level, B1 2-1313 Ortigas Ave. Mandaluyong City.GROUP SHOW02 July 1996'A TRIO OF SCENTS- FEU/TUF/UP Featuring Marcial Pontillas, Armando Nava Mark Aldwin Del Rosario, Eugene Jarque, Michael Gonzales, Christy Baldonado, John Yung, Ulysses Veloso, Katya Guerrero, at Alliance Francess LA GALARIE 3rd Floor, Keystone Building 220 Gil Puyat Ave. Makati City24 April 2000 "GRUPONG MORAYTA' Featuring Raymond Go, Marcial Pontillas, Kirby Roxas, Lorelee Vocalan, Mark Jason Dela Cruz, Joan Chua, Michael Juanson, Guest Teacher. Robert Ko, Alejandro Esteban, Modesto Saldaha, Percival Jurnuad, Estrellita Sazon, Giovanni Dela Rosa, Perfecto Baloloy & Prof. Dom Briones the Founder of Grupong Morayta at Development Bank of the Philippines, Gil Puyat Ave. Makati City08 May 2002 "SANGKAMAY" Featuring A] Peres, Dom Briones, Perfecto Baloloy, Marcial Pontillas, at 14 Floor Makati Municipal Hall, Makati City12 April 2003 "DAGTA' Featuring Raymond Go, Marcial Pontillas, Sam Penaso, Stephen Taneo, Ricardo Yap & Ton Monteaguclo at Tahanan Sa lsok Hotel Boac Marinduque, Phillippines.15 April 2003"DAGTA' Featuring Raymond Go, Marcial Pontillas, Sam Penaso, Stephen Taneo, Ricardo Yap & Ton Monteaguclo at National Museum Boac Town Plaza Marinduque, Philippines29 February 2002 'ALUMNUS" Featuring Giovanni Dela Rosa, Marcial Pontillas, Kirby Roxas, Raymond Go, Ricardo Yap, Perfecto Baloloy, Modesto Saidana, Guest Prof., Dom Briones & Robert Ko at FEU Students Pavilion Nicanor Reyes Hall Sampaloc, Manila14 November 2003 "Grupong Morayta Circa 2003" Featuring Dom Briones, Marcial Pontillas, Alejandro Esteban, Perpecto Baloloy, Marc Jeff rey Ilagan, Janet Balbarona, Cristian Espiritu, Mervin Pimentel, Joel Tangcuangco, Paul Adrian Concepcion, Joel Quifiones, Allan Jay Balisi, Andrew Madrid Mark Louie Changco, Demetrio Padua jr., Nile Garreth Pobaclora.at AD INFINITUM San Juan Metro Manila.09 February 2005 "Guevarra Group (Year of the Roaster)" Featuring Bellesa Antonio, Marcial Pontillas, Andy Cubi, Domenic Rubio, Tres Reyer, Bayani Acala, Vincent De Pio, Pancho, Pancho Villanueva, at THE PODIUM, Galerie Joaquin Lower Ground Level, B1 2-1313 Ortigas Ave. Mandaluyong City28 April 2005"Morayta Group 8th Exibition (Metaphor & Metonomy of Diversified Isms)" Featuring Dom Briones, Marcial Pontillas, Alejandro Esteban, Raymond Go, Richard Venancio, Don Dalmacio, Joel Tangcuangco, Stephen Taneo, Encisa Parker, Kirby Roxas, Mervin Pimentel, Allan Jay Balisi, Andrei Colinares, Jigger Cruz, Joel Quifiones, Andrew Madrid, Edward Allan Garcia, Pol Sena, Omar Sam Ramos, Kim Baroma, Joselito Solis at Gweilos Bar Poenti Circle Eeatwood City Walk LibisVERTICAL HORIZON. Multi-awarded FEU artists, Marcial Pontillas and Demetrio Padua will be holding a two-man painting exhibit at the Galerie Astra, # 210 2nd level, LRI Business plaza Bldg, N. Garcia st. (formerly Reposo St.), Makati City . Both artists explore their deeper views of their surrounding in a new collection of abstracted works. Pontillas, noted for his human landscapes, re-expresses this concept in bold colored abstract works that are further strengthened by dynamic textures. Padua , who started in dark surreal images of the human condition, re-explores this theme in somber compositions of line and form.The exhibit opens on May 11, Friday 6? pm and runs until May 24, 2007.MATCH A 4 Man Exhibit Featuring Melvin Arlegui, Raymond Go, Marcial Pontillas and Jon Jaylo at the WhiteBOX Studio, Cubao Expo Araneta Center Aug. 11 to 26 2007 Tel.: 437-3839THE DECEMBER SHOW Featuring the 100 artists on Dec. 2,2007 at the BLANC art space Crown Tower Salcedo village makati cityART and MUSIC Group Show, Featured artist Marcia pontillas, Rene Robles, Konn Salao and the Malobon artists, December 15, 2007 at the Admirals House SBMA Subic Free Fort Zone.GROUP SHOW January 18, 2008 6PM at My little art place 222 Wilson st. greenhills san juan city, metro manila, … Read More