CESARE A.X. SYJUCO (b. 20 August 1953) is the most acclaimed Filipino multi-media artist of our time, and is likewise a prizewinning painter, poet, and art critic of international stature.

A leading figure of the Manila art vanguard, he has represented the Philippines in numerous art biennials, festivals, competitions and exhibitions overseas. His works can be found in many important private and institutional collections, and have been studied and anthologized in publications worldwide.

His critically-acclaimed paintings, objects, installations and Literary Hybrids® have been featured in more than 50 solo exhibitions and over a hundred group shows in some 23 countries in North and Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim and Asia since 1976.

His landmark articles, critiques, short stories and essays as the resident art critic for The Times Journal (1985-86), The Manila Times (1986-1989), The Philippine Daily Globe (1990-91) and The Philippine Graphic Magazine have given rise to a progressive critical movement of younger writers in the Philippines, and have been credited with opening new pathways for interactive cultural discourse— earning him the label of “the most feared art critic in the Philippines”.

Widely regarded as “the Golden Boy of Philippine Art,” his remarkably varied distinctions include the TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines) Award for Art & Culture Advancement, the Gerry Roxas Foundation Presidential Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, the Gawad CCP Sa Sining Biswal from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the AAP Grand Prize and Gold Medal for Painting from the Art Association of the Philippines, the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature in English Poetry, the UNESCO Paris Gold Medals for Photography and Design, the CMMA Outstanding Filipino Communicator citation from the Catholic Mass Media Awards, the very first Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Award for Art Criticism, and the Araw ng Maynila “Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan” (Art and Cultural Advancement) Award from the City of Manila, among others.

After his sudden and mysterious 12-year disappearance from the artworld, Cesare reemerged in 2004 with his major solo exhibition, “Flashes of Genius”, at the Main Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Featuring his New Literary Hybrids® (a fusion of visual art and literature), the exhibition was unanimously hailed by both visual and literary critics as “a stunning comeback… a brilliant achievement for Philippine Art as a whole.”

In 2007, Cesare formed The Electric Underground Collective— a congregation of artists collaborating on the sole purpose of bringing experimental art, Spoken Word poetry, literature, music and performance art to various venues outside the constraints of the conventional. The group toured the country from 2007 to 2012.

In 2008, he released a 15-track CD Album and Book Set titled “A Sudden Rush of Genius”, which featured his avant-garde music and poetry. The album/book was awarded The National Book Award, and was praised as “a twisted alterno/literary masterpiece… a huge and stunning achievement for OPM (Original Pilipino Music)”.

From 2009 onwards, Cesare mounted several multi-media exhibitions of his Literary Hybrids®, paintings, light works and installations— succeeding his acceptance of both the ‘Araw Ng Maynila "Patnubay Ng Sining At Kalinangan" Award’ for Art and Culture Advancement from the 436-year-old City of Manila, as well as the 2007 La Sallian Achievement Award for Art and Culture from his alma mater, De La Salle University.

Cesare is the founder and director of ART LAB— a non-profit developmental art facility in the Philippines, which he co-founded with his wife: the famed painter, installation and performance artist, Jean Marie Syjuco. A vital hub for multi-media experimentation in the 1990s, it reopened its doors in 2013, and now stands on a combined studio-and-museum space eight times the size of its original site on EDSA in Makati.

Celebrated as ‘The Home of Philippine Avant-Garde Art’, and ‘the premier museum of experimental art’, ART LAB is now known as The Syjuco Museum, and is directed by Cesare and Jean Marie’s youngest daughter, Maxine Syjuco. Committed to continuing its mission “to develop new directions and alternative new audiences for Philippine art”, ART LAB remains at the forefront of groundbreaking Filipino ingenuity.