Ferdinand “Chito” Maravilla, an artist from the Philippines, has lived in Canada for more than 20 years. Fuelled by a passion to draw, Maravilla’s love for art started during his younger days at Malate Catholic School in the Philippines, which inspired him to pursue a career in arts and finished a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, Major in Advertising from the University of Santo Tomas. He was an art director at Campaigns & Grey Advertising in Manila for 14 years.
In 2002, he and his family migrated to Canada where he started working as a playground designer, with works that are widespread across Canada and United States of America. Since then, he has had an eclectic and successful career. With a portfolio ranging from fashion design, playground design to graphic design, the diverse commercial experience shaped him into a versatile and thoughtful artist. “From a young age, I have held the passion of understanding the aesthetics and impulses of abstract art. I try to expand on various concepts, influenced also by my long-term work experience in the advertising agency;” he adds. Aside from painting fragments and observations of his new home in Canada, the artist also paints his experiences in the Philippines.
Maravilla seeks inspiration from real life. When he came to Canada, on his daily commute, he would illustrate the other passengers he saw on the Skytrain. These illustrations eventually culminated into an exhibition at the Vancouver International Airport from 2012 to 2014. “A lot of my works do not require reference; the subjects are captured spontaneously. I try to keep that drive, and when I see something, I make a sketch immediately, I want to put the impulse in there. That way, it preserves the energy and sincerity of how I see that moment,” he explains. Blending surrealism and expressionism, his artworks are imaginative, dreamy and full of symbolism, representing people and places, and encapsulating a complex range of emotions, from grandiose celebration to everyday beauty and simplicity, from the quaint and the familiar to the unexplored and surreal, from introspection and calm to comedy and love.
Currently, he works as a full-time graphic designer at Smartfilms where he creates for various commercial and corporate institutions. One of his recent designs is a mural at the BC Children’s Hospital.
Outside the corporate commercial work, Maravilla works part-time as a painter. In his expansive career as a multi-faceted artist bringing to life a diverse range of styles, subjects, and themes, his works have been displayed in many venues and public spaces, such as the Vancouver International Airport, SPAA in New York, the Surrey Art Gallery, the Lipont Centre in Richmond, playgrounds across North America, and a mural at a Khalsa school in Surrey.
In 2018, two of his art installation designs were awarded by the City of Surrey, and built in 2019 for Maple Green Park.
Exhibit
