Maritess De Ocampo

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Patrick Esmao

<div>There is something inherently aspirational about looking up at a towering building. Rising above the city, these structures can become symbols of progress, achievement, and the ambitions of their time. Yet what a society considers monumental—or exemplary—is never entirely permanent. As generations change, so too do our ideas of what deserves to endure.<span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:642px;display:block" width="642"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786094589853GG_20260616_GJ Esmao Shoot_022.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:642px" width="642"/><span class="fr-inner"><em>Patrick Esmao recently exhibited his recent works, Paragon, at Marquis Events Place in BGC</em></span></span></span>This tension between permanence and change sits at the heart of <em>Paragon</em>, the latest exhibition by Filipino artist<a href="https://www.instagram.com/patrickesmao/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Patrick Esmao</a>.</div><p>Known for a visual language informed by geometric abstraction and minimalism, Esmao turns his attention to architectural icons and the ideals they can represent. Across the exhibition, towers and urban structures rise confidently above their surroundings, their scale and verticality suggesting ambition, ingenuity, and a human desire to create order.</p><p>But beneath their imposing presence lies a larger question: What happens when the ideals represented by these monuments inevitably change?</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/people-culture-events/2026/8/7/erikson-arcilla-explores-patience-perseverance-becoming-in-longest-wait-makes-prettiest-flowers-1531" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YOU  MAY ALSO LIKE: Erikson Arcilla explores patience, perserverance, and becoming in &#x27;The Longest Wait Makes the Prettiest Flowers&#x27;</a></div><div><strong>Building a City Through Geometry</strong></div><p>Architecture has long been part of Esmao’s artistic vocabulary. Trained as a draftsman, the artist approaches the city through planes, lines, patterns, and carefully measured intervals, distilling familiar structures into geometric compositions.</p><p>In <em>Paragon</em>, facades become rhythmic arrangements while buildings are reduced to their essential forms. Although the works evoke familiar urban environments, they are not presented as identifiable places. Instead, architecture becomes a means through which Esmao explores broader ideas surrounding achievement, aspiration, and the passage of time.</p><p>There is precision in these compositions, but there is also uncertainty.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17860904093101-In Article-Esmao.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner"><em>&quot;Ember Horizon,&quot; 36 x 24 in., Mixed Media on Canvas (2026) ; &quot;Holding the Night,&quot; 40 x 30 in., Mixed Media on Canvas (2026) ; &quot;What Holds the City,&quot; 48 x 36 in., Mixed Media on Canvas (2026)</em></span></span></span>The structures appear stable and commanding, yet the landscapes around them are often characterized by silence and distance. Solitary suns hover overhead, suggesting the movement of time, while portions of skylines are cropped, isolated, or partially hidden.</div><p>These visual tensions complicate the sense of permanence projected by the buildings themselves. Cities change, economies fluctuate, and cultural values evolve. What becomes an icon in one period may eventually be reconsidered by another.</p><p>Seen through this lens, Esmao’s monuments become as much about impermanence as they are about achievement.</p><div><strong>What makes a Paragon?</strong></div><p>The exhibition’s title itself opens up another layer of reflection and questions.</p><p>Rather than simply presenting these structures as paragons, Esmao’s works invite us to consider what the word means in an environment that is constantly changing. What constitutes an ideal? And can an idea of excellence survive beyond the circumstances that first gave it meaning?</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17860908405992-In Article-Esmao.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner"><em>&quot;Witness in Still Light,&quot; 40 x 30 in., Multi Media on Canvas (2026); &quot;Fixed Point,&quot; 48 x 36 in., Multi Media on Canvas (2026); &quot;Held in Silence,&quot; 36 x 24 in., Multi Media on Canvas (2026)</em></span></span></span>Through his distilled cityscapes, grandeur and fragility coexist. The buildings may rise with confidence, but they remain situated within the movement of history and the changing values of the societies that surround them.</div><p>In this way, <em>Paragon</em> considers the monument not simply as something built to last, but as something that captures a particular moment in time: a meeting point between aspiration, circumstance, and belief.</p><p>ABS-CBN Lifestyle asks Esmao: <em>Paragon</em> looks at monuments as symbols of achievement while also questioning how ideas of excellence change over time. What made you want to explore this tension between ambition, permanence, and impermanence at this point in your practice? </p><p>The artist shares, &quot;To answer this question, I have to reflect on my practice from the very beginning. As a self-taught artist with limited exposure to the art world growing up, I also had a limited sense of what was possible. At first, I thought success meant simply having your work hanging on a wall. Then, it became having a solo show. Later, it was having a sold-out exhibition. I saw success as a fixed destination, something linear that you eventually arrive at.&quot;</p><p>He elaborates, &quot;But over the years, especially as a full-time artist, my ambitions, goals, and even my definition of success have continued to evolve. I no longer see it as a straight path. Instead, I think it’s cyclical—a continuous process of setting new goals, reaching milestones, and finding joy in everything that happens in between. That shift in perspective naturally led me to think about monuments and symbols of achievement, not as permanent endpoints, but as markers within a much longer journey.&quot;</p><div><strong>A Milestone Beyond the Canvas</strong></div><p>The exhibition also coincides with another milestone in Esmao’s career: the launch of his debut book, <em>Patrick Esmao</em>.</p><p>The publication brings together key works from different stages of his practice, documenting the visual language he has developed through the years. While <em>Paragon </em>offers an encounter with his latest paintings, the book provides another way of looking at the progression of his work across a longer period.</p><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786092048031DSCF6444 copy (1).jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:707px"/></div><p>Together, the exhibition and publication present two perspectives on Esmao’s evolving practice: one experienced through the immediacy of paintings in an exhibition space, and another preserved through the printed page.</p><p>It is an apt pairing for an exhibition concerned with monuments and the passage of time. One looks at the structures we build and the ideals we attach to them; the other records an artist’s own body of work as it continues to develop.</p><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786092091973Esmao 1.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:712px"/></div><p>We asked the artist, &quot;Your debut book brings together works from different stages of your career. Looking back at them now, what has changed most in the way you see yourself as an artist—and what has remained constant? What are you most excited about the future? &quot;</p><p>He shares, &quot;The book brings together five years of work, from my solo exhibitions to collaborative shows. It has been years in the making. Looking back at it now, I’m sure there are ideas I expressed in the book that I probably don’t fully subscribe to anymore. That’s part of growing, both professionally and personally. Growth also means outgrowing previous versions of yourself.&quot;</p><p>He also reveals, &quot;As an artist, a lot has evolved over the years—from the subjects I choose, my color palette, and the themes I explore. My process has remained very disciplined, sometimes even draining, but what has never changed is that desire to create. There’s something incredibly powerful about bringing into the world something that previously existed only in your head.&quot;</p><p>Esmao concludes, &quot;What excites me most about the future is actually quite simple: continuing to do what I’m already doing now. If you asked me where I’d be on a Monday morning 20 years from now, I’d probably say, &#x27;In my studio, working on the next painting.&#x27; And honestly, that’s exactly where I hope to be.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/people-culture-events/2026/8/6/luz-de-flores-how-venzon-and-jj-acuna-are-bringing-sculptural-lighting-into-modern-everyday-spaces-2231" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Luz de Flores: VENZON and JJ Acuna are rethinking how modern spaces are transformed through light</a></div><div><strong>About Patrick Esmao</strong></div><p>Born in 1986, Patrick Esmao is a Philippines-based artist whose practice is informed by geometric abstraction and minimalism. Trained as a draftsman and educated in teaching, Esmao spent 13 years as a high school educator before pursuing art full-time in 2021.</p><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786091823109In Article 4 - Esmao.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:545px"/></div><p>Since then, he has mounted six solo exhibitions, participated in numerous group exhibitions, and exhibited at major Philippine art fairs, including ManilArt and MoCAF.</p><p>His paintings are distinguished by the use of hand-sewn metallic threads integrated into acrylic surfaces, creating texture, depth, and changing interactions with light. Across his practice, Esmao translates familiar subjects into geometric form, encompassing urban and natural landscapes as well as figurative compositions. Among these are works that reinterpret local vendors through myths, legends, and archetypes drawn from cultures around the world.</p><div><em>“Patrick Esmao,” the artist’s debut book, is available for sale at Galerie Joaquin branches. “Paragon” was exhibited at MoCAF, in Marquis Events Place in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, from July 3 to 5, 2026. Following the fair, the works may be scheduled for private viewing at Galerie Joaquin branches.</em></div><div><em>For inquiries about the book and artworks, message Galerie Joaquin through @galeriejoaquin on Facebook or </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/galeriejoaquin/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Instagram</em></a><em>.</em></div><div><em>Photos courtesy of Galerie Joaquin.</em></div>

<p>Filipino artist Patrick Esmao reaches a new chapter with "Paragon" and the release of his debut book, exploring the monuments we create and the changing ideals they represent.</p>

Filipino artist Patrick Esmao reaches a new chapter with "Paragon" and the release of his debut book, exploring the monuments we create and the changing ideals they represent.

Still Rising: Patrick Esmao on 'Paragon' and the evolving meaning of success

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Still Rising: Patrick Esmao on 'Paragon' and the evolving meaning of success

Mawi Fojas De Ocampo

Published August 07, 2026 05:40 PM PHT

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Patrick Esmao

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