RAL ARROGANTE, self-taught artist and a businessman, is presently the head of the Society of Philippine Sculptors (SPS). He is known for his scrap metal wind-driven sculpture depicting ecological subjects. Ral is also a former officer of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) and he commits himself in sharing his talent and know-how with young artists and children in depressed communities.
He used to be the assistant to the commercial attach of the Swiss Embassy in Manila, The commerce graduate, however, gradually transferred his energies to art. Since his first foray into the scene in 1986 until 1990, he called himself a "weekend artist," his management and marketing savvy, in corporate or diplomatic terms, taking more of his time. Ral Arrogante is presently one of the front-liners in contemporary Philippine sculpture and is likewise an active member of the ecological artists group EarthArt.
Ral Arrogante is a sculptor who believes in the value of recycled brass as an ecological and yet long-lasting artistic statement on the need to conserve our resources, and maximize the possibilities of material through the unlimited potential of the mind to convert and transform the ordinary into the timeless.
In the exhibit APHRODITE | ICARUS, the embodiment of the potent Icarus, as represented in Ral Arrogante’s winged-mixed media, mainly copper and brass remarkably fitted together without the use of welding. They shimmer like valued treasures at the same time conveying free flight in space. It symbolizes man's ultimate quest for freedom, and to reach the hitherto impossible dream of man-powered flight. Arrogante's sculptures make us realize the fragility of humanity, and how our aspiration for freedom must be tempered by prudence, foresight, and practice.
