Edgar "Egai" Talusan Fernandez (January 20, 1955 – February 27, 2024) was a Filipino
socialist-realist painter.
His art style was noted for portraying the Philippines as "a multi-ethnic country that is still embroiled in social issues such as civil conflicts."
Active in the Philippine art scene from the 1970s onwards, he was particularly known for his activist art which criticized the dictatorship of former Philippine President
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
.
Fernandez studied advertising at the
Philippine Women's University
The Philippine Women's University (PWU) is a tertiary education school which has its main campus in Manila, Philippines. An institution exclusive for girls from its inception until the 1970s, the PWU admits both women and men as its students.
...
under the mentorship of renowned Philippine abstractionists Lee Aguinaldo and Justin Nuyda, who helped influence his early style. His developing affiliation with activist groups eventually led to him becoming one of the founders of the Kaisahan group, which would become one of the bastions for Social Realism in the country.
Fernandez's style as a social realist painter was largely defined by his
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
depicting the many trials plaguing Philippine society.
Fernandez died on February 27, 2024, at the age of 68.
Solo exhibitions
*''Modular Paintings,''
Ateneo Art Gallery
The Ateneo Art Gallery is a museum of modern art of the Ateneo de Manila University. It is the first of its kind in the Philippines. It serves as an art resource for the university community and the general public as well. The Gallery is located ...
, Philippines, 1975
*''Reflections,''
National Commission for Culture and the Arts
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Komisyon para sa Kultura at mga Sining, ceb, Nasodnong Komisyon alang sa Budaya ug mga Arte) is the official government agency for culture in the Philippines. ...
Gallery, Philippines, 2012
*''Sound of Silence: Remembering Martial Law,'' National Commission for Culture and the Arts Gallery, Philippines, 2016
References
1955 births
2024 deaths
20th-century Filipino painters
21st-century Filipino painters
Artists featured at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani
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