Elmer Borlongan

Elmer Borlongan is a prominent contemporary Filipino painter best known for his distinctive use of figurative expressionism.
He rose to prominence as a recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Thirteen Artist Awards in 1994, and his works have since become one of the most widely exhibited and most sought after at auctions among Southeast Asian artists.
When asked about his visual approach, Borlongan describes his style as figurative expressionism.[ Art Curator Ditas Samson expounds on this, describing a typical Borlongan canvas as “dominated by the human figure – often distorted in shape, in unreal hues.” 
Borlongan’s early work is known for its usage of figures in urban settings, in stark contrast to the idyllic rural settings of the earlier generation of Filipino artists, such as Fernando Amorsolo.
Later works by Borlongan, after his move from the streets of Manila to the provincial settings of Zambales, increasingly featured people in rural settings as well, but imbued with the same tense energy which characterizes his urban-setting figures – a thematic contrast which has been described as a prominent characteristic of Borlongan’s later corpus.
Borlongan was born in Manila in 1967 to chemist Pascual Borlongan and Dolores Misa and grew up in the Nueve de Pebrero area of Mandaluyong City. His father Pascual encouraged Borlongan’s artistic pursuits at a very young age, encouraging him to draw everyday objects from various angles.