Bienvenido "Bones" Banez, Jr.

Bienvenido "Bones" Banez, Jr.
Bienvenido Bones Banez Jr. at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center during Terrance Lindall's lecture of the Paradise Lost Elephant Folio, 2011.
Born	(1962-06-07) June 7, 1962 Davao City, Mindanao, the Philippines
Education	The Learning Center of the Arts
Known for	Painting
Website	www.welcomebones666artworld.trilogistick.com

Bienvenido "Bones" Banez, Jr. is a Spanish Filipino surrealist painter born on June 7, 1962 in Davao City, Philippines.^[1] He is the only Filipino surreal artist included in the Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler (Encyclopedia of Fantastic & Surrealistic & Symbolist & Visionary Artists).^[2]

Life and Work

In college, he enrolled at the Learning Center of the Arts (now Ford Academy of the Arts) in Davao City, Philippines, where one of his tutors^[3] was National Artist of the Philippines and Father of Modern Philippine Art Victorio C. Edades, Jr. Edades was one of the pillars of the institution, along with the school's founder Aida Rivera-Ford.^[4]

He entered the international art scene when he spent two months in artist residency at the Vermont Studio Center based in Vermont, USA.^[5]

In 2004, Bañez went to New York where he now lives. In 2010, he was included in Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler, and in "Who's Who in Visual Art 2010-2011: 100 Artists in Painting, Graphic Arts, Digital Arts, Sculpture^[6] as the only Filipino surrealist.

Honors

In 2016 Banez was named an official full member of the Williamsburg Circle of International Arts and Letters, among several other highly regarded scholars, artists, writers and performers.* ^[7]

Themes

Banez's work revolves around the theme "666", the "reign of evil in the world", which he expresses through psychedelic depictions of "human and sub-human figures."^[8] To Bañez, “Satan brings color to the world,”^[9] which is his interpretation of the felix culpa theodicy.^[10] This proposition stems from his strong belief in Christianity and in the "Judeo-Christian metanarrative" where the Devil's "rebellious power" is prevailing in the world.^[11] Using jewel-toned colors, Bañez depicts Evil as beginning to take over as exemplified by the wars, environmental degradation, injustice, and the proliferation of crimes against humanity.^[12]

Selected exhibitions

Bienvenido Bones Bañez

• Dinner with the Devil^[13] Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA, Sept 19, 2014
• Satanic Verses Reading^[14] Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA, Sept, 2014
• The first presentation of The Satanic Verses of Bones Banez^[15] Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA, Jan 25, 2014
• Satan’s Peculiar Grace^[16] 14th Annual WAH Salon Art Club Show, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA, Jan 26-Feb 24, 2013
• The Society For Art Of Imagination Exhibition,^[17] Phantasten Museum (Phantastenmuseum Wien), Palais Palffy; Vienna, Austria 2012
• WAH's 16th Anniversary, The Grand Harvest:^[18] International Juried Show with Awards, WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA, Oct 27-Dec 9, 2012
• The Visionaries Show at the QCC Art Gallery,^[19] Queensborough Community College, New York, USA. "Visionaries: The Art Of The Fantastic" July 12, 2012 - to September 20, 2012
• Paradise Lost Collectors Weekend And Antiquarian Books and Art Exhibit,^[20] WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA, April 14–15, 2012
• WAH Salon Art Club,^[21] WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006
• Fifty Year Fantastic,^[22] The Society for Art of Imagination, United Kingdom, London, 2010
• Great Artists Exhibit,^[23] Museo Dabawenyo, Davao, Philippines, 2010
• Selected Contemporary Works From The Permanent Collection, PART 2 (2002–Present),^[24] Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
• Paradise Lost Festival and Exhibit Celebrating Milton's 400th Birthday,^[25] 2008
• International Surrealist Show,^[26] 2008, 2006
• Brave Destiny Exhibit,^[27] WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2003
• Around the Coyote Winter Arts Festival. Chicago IL USA, 2003
• Red Mill Gallery, Vermont Studio Center, 2002, Johnson, Vermont, USA
• Amarin Café, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, USA
• Mark Gallery, 1993, Davao City, Philippines
• Victoria Gallery, Victoria Plaza, Davao City, Philippines
• Ford Academy of the Arts, Davao City, Philippines, April 1984

Reviews and publications

• Banez, Bienvenido Bones and Dr Horace Jeffery Hodges (2014) Satanic Verses, Yuko Nii Foundation; 1ST edition (2014). ISBN 1495117340. ISBN 978-1495117343.
• Kaplan, Carter. (2013). Emanations: Third Eye. p. xvi. Introduction includes works by various visual artists. Brookline, Massachusetts: International Authors. ISBN 0615494404.
• Kaplan, Carter, et al. (2012). Emanations: Second Sight. The second anthology showcasing the work of thirty writers from around the world, with illustrations by various artists. Brookline, Massachusetts: International Authors. ISBN 0615699928.
• Visionaries: The Art of the Fantastic, 1st Edition. ISBN 1936658143. 2012: QCC Art Gallery Press.
• Lindall, Terrance (2012) with commentary by John Milton's Paradise Lost, p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4675-6146-4. 2012: Yuko Nii Foundation.
• Surrealism in the Philippines (An interview with multidisciplinary artist and writer Danny Castillones Sillada).^[28] 2012: ArtSlant, New York.
• Visionaries: the Art of the Fantastic,^[29] a Queens Public Television review.
• Himmelblau, Ulrich Goette (2010). Who's Who in Visual Art 2010-2011: 100 Artists in Painting, Graphic Arts, Digital Arts, Sculpture.^[30] 2010: Art Domain Whois Verlag. ISBN 3981347404.
• Rapp, Otto (2010). Visionary Art Yearbook 2010-2011;^[31] Canada: Otto Rapp.
• Somozo, Phillip (Jan-Feb 2010). Mindanaoan Artist in Lexicon of Surrealism,^[32] p. 48. Manila: Filipinas Mag.
• Somozo, Phillip (2010). Ben Bañez, Art of Surrealism. M Life & living in Mindanao Volume 3 No.1, p. 61.
• Somozo, Phillip (2009). Mindanaoan Artist Visual Irony in Lexicon of Surrealism,^[33] Ang Dabawenyo.
• Habarta, Gerard (2009). Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler.^[34] Encyclopedia of Fantastic & Surrealistic & Symbolist & Visionary Artists. Germany: Books on Demand. pp. 47–48. ISBN 3837084272.
• Ayala, Tita Lacambra, and Ricardo M. Ungria (2008). Davao Harvest 2.^[35] Manila, Philippines: National Commission for Culture and the Arts. ISBN 9718141162.
• Lindall, Terrance. What’s New in the Surreal World,^[36] p. 164. March 2006: Art and Antiques Magazine.
• Ramirez, Eileen Legaspi (2006). Crossbred and Emigre: Visual Art in a Flux^[37] (Commissioned Article). Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
• Datuin, Flaudette May V. and Alya Honasan (1998) PANANAW: Philippine Journal of Visual Arts (Vol. 2).^[38] Manila, Philippines: National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
• Index of Painters and Sculptors Biography and Works Around the World^[39]

References