Biography

Buen CALUBAYAN (b.1980) investigates the mechanisms of world-making and the techniques of perception—of what happens in-between the self and the world in terms of mediation, image-making, and the production of devices that enable such operations. In art history through landscape painting, picturing of nature and of the world around us is skillfully employed with the renaissance technique of linear perspective. He took as an entry point this diagrammatic approach in reading 19th century colonial paintings in the Philippines to plot the coordinates of a specific regional context within what was becoming the broader art world. The method involves the rethinking of the notions of the horizon, the vanishing point, and grounding as well as the mechanisms that make it visible such as framing, archiving historiography, and accessibility.

 

Based in Manila, Philippines, Buen CALUBAYAN majored in Cultural Heritage Studies at the University of Santo Tomas. He worked as a preservation assistant at UST Museum of Arts and Sciences from 2002 to 2006, then at the National Museum of the Philippines from 2010 to 2013. Meanwhile, from 2008 to 2018, he took part in a number of residency programs in Australia, Japan, and Singapore. He has held 12 solo exhibitions since 2007 and has exhibited his work in numerous group exhibitions at various institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Manila, Philippines); Gwangju Museum of Art (Gwangju, Korea); and Arario Gallery Shanghai (Shanghai, China).

Works
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, (How to enjoy) a premature sunset (어떻게) 이른 석양을 즐길 것인가, 2025
    (How to enjoy) a premature sunset (어떻게) 이른 석양을 즐길 것인가, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, A set of ecological backdrops 3 생태적 배경의 조합 3, 2025
    A set of ecological backdrops 3 생태적 배경의 조합 3, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, A set of ecological backdrops 4 생태적 배경의 조합 4, 2025
    A set of ecological backdrops 4 생태적 배경의 조합 4, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Bodies remember everything you forget 몸은 당신이 잊은 모든 것을 기억한다, 2025
    Bodies remember everything you forget 몸은 당신이 잊은 모든 것을 기억한다, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Draw on the land with your barefoot: a guide on placemaking 맨발로 땅에 선을 긋다: 장소 만들기에 대한 안내서, 2025
    Draw on the land with your barefoot: a guide on placemaking 맨발로 땅에 선을 긋다: 장소 만들기에 대한 안내서, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 2 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 2, 2025
    Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 2 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 2, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 4 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 4, 2025
    Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 4 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 4, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Drawing exercise for rhythm regulation 리듬 조절을 위한 드로잉 연습, 2025
    Drawing exercise for rhythm regulation 리듬 조절을 위한 드로잉 연습, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Notes and sketches 노트와 스케치, 2025
    Notes and sketches 노트와 스케치, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Put your worries behind your basic needs 걱정은 내려놓고 기본 욕구에 충실하기, 2025
    Put your worries behind your basic needs 걱정은 내려놓고 기본 욕구에 충실하기, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Restless questionings of moving bodies 2 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 2, 2025
    Restless questionings of moving bodies 2 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 2, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Restless questionings of moving bodies 4 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 4, 2025
    Restless questionings of moving bodies 4 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 4, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Rhythm of rhythms: on farming, learning, and living 리듬의 리듬: 농사, 배움, 그리고 삶, 2025
    Rhythm of rhythms: on farming, learning, and living 리듬의 리듬: 농사, 배움, 그리고 삶, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, We never left the kindergarten 우리는 결코 유치원을 떠나지 않았다, 2025
    We never left the kindergarten 우리는 결코 유치원을 떠나지 않았다, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Where you stand doesn’t mean you are on a stable ground 당신이 서 있는 곳이 안정된 기반은 아니다, 2025
    Where you stand doesn’t mean you are on a stable ground 당신이 서 있는 곳이 안정된 기반은 아니다, 2025
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, A set of ecological backdrops 1 생태적 배경의 조합 1, 2024
    A set of ecological backdrops 1 생태적 배경의 조합 1, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, A set of ecological backdrops 2 생태적 배경의 조합 2, 2024
    A set of ecological backdrops 2 생태적 배경의 조합 2, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 1 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 1, 2024
    Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 1 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 1, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 3 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 3, 2024
    Draw your face to erase the land, and vice versa 3 얼굴을 그려 땅을 지우고, 그 반대로도 3, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, On Land Reform, 2024
    On Land Reform, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Restless questionings of moving bodies 1 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 1, 2024
    Restless questionings of moving bodies 1 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 1, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Restless questionings of moving bodies 3 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 3, 2024
    Restless questionings of moving bodies 3 움직이는 몸에 대한 끝없는 질문 3, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Structure without Shadows, 2024
    Structure without Shadows, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Structure without Shadows, 2024
    Structure without Shadows, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Structure without Shadows, 2024
    Structure without Shadows, 2024
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Ground and Perspective (Series of 3), 2021
    Ground and Perspective (Series of 3), 2021
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Ground and Perspective (Series of 3), 2021
    Ground and Perspective (Series of 3), 2021
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Ground and Perspective (Series of 3), 2021
    Ground and Perspective (Series of 3), 2021
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Pasyon and Revolution: Light and Brotherhood, 2019
    Pasyon and Revolution: Light and Brotherhood, 2019
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Perspective Coordinates of Spoliarium, 2019
    Perspective Coordinates of Spoliarium, 2019
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Mount Banahaw Experience, 2014/2019
    Mount Banahaw Experience, 2014/2019
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Genius and Ambition, 2014
    Genius and Ambition, 2014
  • Buen CALUBAYAN, Grounding, 2013-2019
    Grounding, 2013-2019
Exhibitions
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