Paolo Icasas

b. 1981, Philippines
Lives and works in the Philippines

Paolo Icasas is a Filipino artist who graduated from the University of Santo Tomas in 2003, known for his abstract landscapes. These richly-applied paintings made with energetic brush markings often suggest a horizon, rocks, plants, and light breaking through a cloudy sky. Each painting is unmistakably the layering of drips, smears, and strokes of thickly applied oil paint, features that resonate with the primacy of colour and seductiveness of the materiality of paint.

Icasas large-scale landscape paintings are often ‘inner scapes’ created in fits of spontaneity. They pertain to something closer to spirituality, emotions, and moral sentiments rather than to nature. This metaphysical understanding and gestural approach to painting also finds expression in another output in his rich body of work, with interpretations of traditional genres and works of the masters, such as Filipino pastorals and Hidalgo. At times, this is tied in to his interest in stringing together narratives among his varied work or are results of a long standing exploration of art historical pieces in drawings.

Paolo has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in renowned galleries and institutions in the Philippines, such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Blanc gallery, Silverlens, and West Gallery.

Biography information from Vintana.PH, July 2023

Country: Philippines
Social Media: @paolo_icasas