BIOGRAPHY

Norberto Roldan’s (b. 1953) practice is rooted in social and political issues. His installations, assemblages and paintings of found objects, text fragments and found images address issues surroounding everyday life, history and collective memory. His artistic process engages with ways in which material objects are re-appropriated in another context. He graduated with a degree in BA Philosophy from St. Pius X Seminary and took his BFA in Visual Communication from the University of Santo Tomas. He is represented in several landmark surverys like No Country: Contemporary Art for South/Southeast Asia, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (2012); Between Declarations & Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia Since the 19th Century, National Gallery Singapore (2015); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, National Art Centre Tokyo (2017); and, Passion and Procession: Art of the Philippines, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2017).

Roldan founded Black Artists in Asia in 1986, a group with a socially and politically progressive practice. In 1990 he initiated VIVA EXCON (Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference), the longest running biennale in the Philippines. He co-foounded Green Papaya Art Projects in 2000 which remains to be the longest-running independent and multi-disciplinary platform in the country.