Bahana Republic (Flooded Republic) (2011) Painting by Paul Hilario

I paint visual narratives. I try to create stories with themes that range from the blissful to the brooding. Typically, my compositions are laden with common and personal symbolism.  My works seem to have disconnected elements but they are linked in the way that I see them. To the audience, however, they are like puzzles; open to varied personal interpretations.

I wouldn’t say I like to confine myself in a box.  Some days I paint social commentaries. On other days I just paint my observations of issues that pertain to almost anything under the sun - this can be political, social, environmental, religious, cultural, and even agricultural.   I try to paint realities in, out, and of life.

Early in my career as a painter, I was mostly doing rice field landscapes and rice farmers in an impressionist manner influenced principally by Vincent Van Gogh. I didn’t paint rice fields because it was popular but rather because of my heritage and professional background. My grandfathers were fittingly a rice farmer and an artist. I worked for a rice-centered international organization for 14 years before moving on full-time to my creative passion.

 In 2021, one of my artworks, Toil Today Dream Tonight, a rice-scape artwork, went viral when it was mistakenly attributed to Vincent Van Gogh in various countries. Many enterprises unknowingly created merchandise from the image of my work.

 Largely self-taught, I was mentored early in my professional art career by one of the Philippines' most respected artists – Marcel Antonio.

For painting methods, I prefer to use a modified Byzantine-era painting technique that helps me create layers of colors developed through multiple glazing. Shadow colors are richer, hard and soft edges have increased contrast, and I am able to create a sense of melodic feel to the painting.

 It’s an often repeated story, almost a cliché, but discovering where my heart and mind truly belong was a process of almost four decades.  I never really planned to be a painter, but that was my destiny after all.  It was a calling I couldn't resist.  

 Aside from the Philippines, my works have found their way to Australia, Canada, Denmark, Dubai, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.

• Nationality: PHILIPPINES
• Date of birth : 1972
• Artistic domains: Works by professional artists,
• Groups: Professional Artist Contemporary Filipino Artists