Louie Cordero

b. 1978 in Manila, Philippines
Lives and works in Manila, Philippines

Louie Cordero is an artist from the Philippines whose body of work is underlined by an air of ambiguity – his artistic world is often described as bizarre or riotous, and sometimes even grotesque or wretched. On both the conceptual and visual levels, this man’s paintings, sculptures and installations are informed by the complex history of the Philippines. Whenever he is depicting figures from Filipino mythology, Cordero includes blood, gore and military imagery to reflect the eclectic and often violent mix of his nation’s indigenous culture and its mixed legacies. Besides his nation’s folklore, Louie also states that he is inspired by a wide range of fields like kitsch, Indian advertising, American B-movies, comic books and pulp fiction.

Cordero is an award-winning painter, sculptor and creator of Nardong Tae—a self-published underground comic series. He is a graduate of the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines and held a residency in the United States at the Vermont Studio Center (2003). He’s a recipient of numerous awards including the Thirteen Artists Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (2006). His work has been exhibited at Sonsbeek ’16 transACTION, Netherlands (2016); the Open Sea exhibition at Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, France (2015); World of Painting, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Australia (2008); Singapore Biennale (2011); the 14th Jakarta Biennale (2011); and PANORAMA, Singapore Art Museum (2012).

BIOGRAPHY FROM WIDEWALLS AND JONATHAN LEVINE PROJECTS, NOVEMBER 2023