Rene Robles

Art of Making Visible
The Transformation of The Commonplace
Esteemed as a senior and major Filipino artist, who has proven, through several decades of active and prolific art making, producing works ranging from portraiture, still lifes, nudes, landscapes, murals, figuration and abstraction; Rene Robles paintings often question the art and the role of the artist.

His imagination and creativity stood out distinctly among the modernist painters of Philippines and is one of few Filipino artists who achieved success in America & Europe. His art style is called Assertion ism’ and he is the founder and proponent. Assertionism has its own iconography and belief systems.

Born Ireneo San Agustian Robles, Jr in Lucerna City, Philippines in 1950. Robles is a practising artist since 1970. He currently lives and works In the Philippines. A graduate of the University of Santo Thomas College of Architecture & Fine Arts (Rector’s Scholar, 1976). He further his art studies at the National Academy of Design, School of Fine Arts (1990) & Art Students League, New York (1989). Received study grants/study tours to visit museums in France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Belgium. Robles is an Internationally exhibited artist with over 70 solo exhibitions in Europe, USA and Asia. A multi-awarded artist, he has released numerous books on his Assertionism art. Assertionism is an art style founded by Robles in New Jersey, USA in 1986. The underlying principle is that “art which has power asserts, transforms, and transcends.”
“In the highly competitive Philippine art scene, artists of remarkable talent abound and from each generation emerges a younger breed of exceptional abilities. Rising above the rubble, as it were, is Rene Robles, esteemed as a senior and major Filipino artist, who has proven, through several decades of active and prolific art-making, producing works ranging from portraiture, still lifes, nudes, landscapes, religious images, murals, figuration and abstraction, that talent forged in the smithy of passion, commitment and dedication, will endure and never be commonplace."
Cid Reyes
Art Critic
“He makes younger artists rediscover their subjects by assuming new angles and points of view where they shed their flatness and two-dimensionality and become brillant and prismatic. Through the seemingly trivial, marginal and unpretentious objects of the everyday, the art of Rene Robles causes us to reflect on the subtleties of time, space and memory as central elements in the complexity of the human narrative and individual identity. His art and meanings are multi-layered, formal, personal and social - which are steps to personal and cultural empowerment.”
Alice G. Guillermo
Art Historian, Asian Art News
Selected Museums and Public Collections
University of Santo Thomas Museum, Philippines
Ateneo University Art Gallery
Central Bank of Philippines
Luna Museum Hotel, Vigan City Philippines
Subic Bay Freeport, Philippines
GSIS Museum, Philippines
Philip Luhlier Museum Philippines
Aventis
Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

Rene Robles

Esteemed as a senior and major Filipino artist, who has proven, through several decades of active and prolific art making, producing works ranging from portraiture, still lifes, nudes, landscapes, murals, figuration and abstraction; Rene Robles paintings often question the art and the role of the artist.

His imagination and creativity stood out distinctly among the modernist painters of Philippines and is one of few Filipino artists who achieved success in America & Europe. His art style is called Assertion ism’ and he is the founder and proponent. Assertionism has its own iconography and belief systems.

Born Ireneo San Agustian Robles, Jr in Lucerna City, Philippines in 1950. Robles is a practising artist since 1970. He currently lives and works In the Philippines.

A graduate of the University of Santo Thomas College of Architecture & Fine Arts (Rector’s Scholar, 1976). He further his art studies at the National Academy of Design, School of Fine Arts (1990) & Art Students League, New York (1989). Received study grants/study tours to visit museums in France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Belgium.

Robles is an Internationally exhibited artist with over 70 solo exhibitions in Europe, USA and Asia. A multi-awarded artist, he has released numerous books on his Assertionism art. Assertionism is an art style founded by Robles in New Jersey, USA in 1986. The underlying principle is that “art which has power asserts, transforms, and transcends.”
“In the highly competitive Philippine art scene, artists of remarkable talent abound and from each generation emerges a younger breed of exceptional abilities. Rising above the rubble, as it were, is Rene Robles, esteemed as a senior and major Filipino artist, who has proven, through several decades of active and prolific art-making, producing works ranging from portraiture, still lifes, nudes, landscapes, religious images, murals, figuration and abstraction, that talent forged in the smithy of passion, commitment and dedication, will endure and never be commonplace."
Cid Reyes
Art Critic
“He makes younger artists rediscover their subjects by assuming new angles and points of view where they shed their flatness and two-dimensionality and become brillant and prismatic. Through the seemingly trivial, marginal and unpretentious objects of the everyday, the art of Rene Robles causes us to reflect on the subtleties of time, space and memory as central elements in the complexity of the human narrative and individual identity. His art and meanings are multi-layered, formal, personal and social - which are steps to personal and cultural empowerment.”
Alice G. Guillermo
Art Historian, Asian Art News
Selected Museums and Public Collections
University of Santo Thomas Museum, Philippines
Ateneo University Art Gallery
Central Bank of Philippines
Luna Museum Hotel, Vigan City Philippines
Subic Bay Freeport, Philippines
GSIS Museum, Philippines
Philip Luhlier Museum Philippines
Aventis
Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

Reviews & Media
Art of Metaphysical Stillness – Inquirer
Capturing the Nude by Lisa Ito
The Transformation of The Commonplace
Asserting Himself
Private As Thought
Reconfiguring Domestic Space
Making Visible
rt In Everyday Objects
No Object Too Trivial to Make a Point with Art
Asian Art News Review by Alice Guillermo
Beauty In The Ordinary
Art of Making Visible
The Transformation of The Commonplace
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