HERMES ALEGRE studied art in the Philippine Women's University. Born in 1968 at Daet, Camarines Norte, his first picture book, Bahay Kubo, was published in 1993. His work has appeared in over thirty galleries. He has graced some of the most prestigious art spaces in the world and has the distinction of promoting the tropical beauty of Pinays to a larger audience.
He is mainly recognized for his rendering of luscious full-lipped, brown-skinned women, mostly of the Mariang Makiling mould, embraced by a rich tropical locale brimming with a radiant abundance of flora. Alegre’s women on canvas are always mysteriously erotic looking. They look intently right back at you, summoning you to drown in their eyes, their mesmerizing gaze transporting you to their randomly beautiful wild alternative reality.
In Aphrodite, Hermes Alegre fuses his status as a figurative painter of femme and flora while showcasing more than just women in exotic settings, the iconography for which the artist has become famous and drawn legions of collectors. The women figures aren’t just matters of elemental desire and embrace; they became the face of resolute humanity; doctrinaire —and as refined as ever.
