Arvin Cantalejo Jr.
“I just found my real comfort zone and that is life, personality, and art because it tells me my real me.” Cantalejo
Arvin C. Cantalejo Jr. student from the Philippine Women’s College in Davao as a Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Painting. He studied with Rodney P. Yap and his work shows the influence of his mentor. He is also inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński. He says Yap taught him how to be sincere, loyal and to be real to his art and his painting soul to soul. Born in 1997, Cantalejo is from Surigao Del Sur, Tandag City. He draws and paints when he was in grade school and he became a musician back in his high school life. He joins art competition before but nothing happens all of his careers at that time. He was active in dancing hip-hop and folk. He and his younger brother are classmates from nursery to high school.
He started to learn painting in 2015 and describes his paintings as imaginary images ‘from the other side of the world. ’Cantalejo says he has pareidolia, the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. He believes his artworks to be his destiny. Combining his love of art and music, Cantalejo says he painted ‘Oknotok’ by transforming the lyrics, rhythm, and harmony of the music from an album by Radiohead and that painting to music helps him to be productive. His painting titled WANDERER: The Sound of Music Playing on an Empty Canvas was chosen as a semifinalist in the 2019 PLDT Competition. Cantalejo lives and paints in Davao.”Life can be meaningful with music. Artists inspire Artists, music loves painters and painters paint their own music. An empty canvas creates a lullaby and the sweet serenity brings us to our own world where hopes and dreams are there.” -Wanderer: The Sound Of Music Playing On An Empty Canvas, 2019.
