Lesley-Anne Cao is an artist based in the Philippines.
EDUCATION
2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Major in Painting), University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts - Diliman
2013 International Exchange Scholar, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 If time is an arrow, what is its target, Underground Gallery, Makati City
2021 A song plays from another room, MO_Space, Taguig City
2021 Hard and soft prayers, The Drawing Room, Makati City
2018 The hand, the secretary, a landscape, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila
RESIDENCIES
2023 Gasworks Artist Residency, Gasworks, London
2019 Örö Residency Programme, Örö, Finland — Residency and exhibition We Meet at the Seaside curated by Erica Yu Wen Huang and Nina-Maria Oförsagd
2017 Keelung Ciao, Keelung, Taiwan — Residency and exhibition curated by Yi-Hsuan Kuo and Erica Yu Wen Huang
GROUP EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2024
Revisiting the Landscape, MO_Space Gallery, Taguig City (curated by Gerry Tan)
Weather-world, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong (curated by Jims Lam and Carlos Quijon, Jr.)
Level 13A, A+ Works of Art, Kuala Lumpur at the Hotel Art Fair, Intercontinental Bangkok Sukhumvit, Bangkok
you were there from the beginning, Modeka Art Space, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
2023
Nothing human is alien to me, A+ Works of Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr.)
There are always flowers for those who want to see them, West Gallery, Quezon City
A Great Show, The Drawing Room, Makati City
INTERTEXTILE II: Works on Fabric in Green Papaya Art Projects’ Archive, Studio Mano, Antique
The eye cuts where the hand lands, Gravity Art Space, Quezon City (curated by Pristine de Leon)
2022
Mise en Place, Appetite, Singapore (curated by Yun Teng Seet)
An aging double, MO_Space Gallery, Taguig City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
Hitherto V: Mothering from a Distance, Project Space Pilipinas, Lucban, Quezon
Beneath the Common Surface, Kaida Contemporary Gallery, Quezon City
happyseventh, Underground Gallery, Makati City
2021
Last Words, ROH Projects, Jakarta, Indonesia
Cast But One Shadow, University of the Philippines Vargas Museum, Quezon City (curated by Kathleen Ditzig and Carlos Quijon, Jr. with artwork commissioned by KONNECT-ASEAN Foundation)
No More Mesmerizations, Bangkok Biennial 2020/1 - Manila/Online Pavilion (curated by Vincent Ardidon)
2020
I’m finding it hard to believe, Modeka Art Space, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
Florae – The Women Artists : The Special Project for MSAC 10th Anniversary III, Mind Set Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Issue 2: Points of Connection, West Space Offsite (Online Program), West Space, Melbourne, Australia (edited by Andy Butler)
Jack of Golds, Blanc Gallery, Quezon City
this walk, a hunt; this path, a quarry, Artinformal Gallery, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
3rd Kamias Triennial: Sawsawan in the Dirty Kitchen, Kamias Special Projects, Quezon City (curated by Patrick Cruz, Su-ying Lee, and Allison Collins)
2019
a knowing intimacy or a life, University of the Philippines Vargas Museum, Quezon City (curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr)
To give a moment a name (with Derek Tumala and Katherine Nuñez), The Drawing Room, Makati City (curated by Con Cabrera)
Courses of Action, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong and Para Site, Hong Kong (curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr.)
More light than heat (with Lao Lianben), Calle Wright, Manila (curated by Arianna Mercado)
City of Bawal, 1335Mabini Gallery, Makati City (curated by Roy Voragen)
Of sampaguita, ilang-ilang (with MJ Flamiano and Czar Kristoff), c3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, Australia
A Public Collection of the Hidden but Familiar, Limbo, Makati City (curated by Tropikalye/Nice Buenaventura)
15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, The Maltings Theatre, Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK
19th Seoul International New Media Festival, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea
Asian Artist Moving Image Platform: 2nd Curatorial Forum (with Los Otros), Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus, Seoul, South Korea
2nd Hobiennale (with recess), Cinema One, Hobart, Tasmania
.giff Festival of New Cinema (with Los Otros), Warehouse Eight, Makati City
2018
Fieldnotes, Makiling Botanic Gardens and Nomina Nuda, Los Baños, Laguna (curated by Nomina Nuda and Para://Site Projects)
Spin Cycle, 25 Humabon Street, Magallanes Village, Makati City (curated by Kiat Kiat Projects)
Quid Pro Quo, Bangkok Biennial, Bangrak Market, Bangkok, Thailand (curated by Liv_id Collective and Alice Sarmiento)
100 Films for One Hundred Years: Hidden Cinema, Ayala Museum, Makati City (curated by Nick Deocampo)
Yielding Nodes, Kuna ng Dahon, Silang, Cavite (curated by Para://Site Projects)
Composite Circuits, Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, Makati City (curated by Dayang Yraola)
To eat is to survive to be hungry, 1335Mabini Gallery, Manila (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
2017
Lost Frames VII: [REC], Green Papaya Art Projects/Catch272, Quezon City
The Arm (with Itos Ledesma), 98B Collaboratory, Manila
Parle pas français, merci, Corredor Gallery, U.P. College of Fine Arts, Quezon City
D, Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
2015
PaperViews15: Rapid Cycling, Project Space Pilipinas, Lucban, Quezon
Nonfiction (with Lou Lim and Issay Rodriguez), Project 20, Quezon City
Bull in the Heather, Art Center/Galerie Anna, Mandaluyong City (curated by Lena Cobangbang)
REPULSE, MAKNA Seni Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia (curated by Asep Topan)
Preview Magazine 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Green Sun, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
Pop+art: Productions, Artery Art Space, Quezon City
Project Bakawan Arts Festival, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City
SiLab: Sining Laboratoryo Arts Festival, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna
2014
Unisex, Artery Art Space, Quezon City
Luminescence, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila
Objection, PAN/// Project Space, 98B Collaboratory, Manila (curated by Asep Topan)
2013
Je ne sais pas encore, exactament, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
Thin Skinned, Light and Space Contemporary, Quezon City
2012 Being, Sining Kamalig, Quezon City
2010 Y, Sining Kamalig, Quezon City (curated by Nestor Vinluan)
2009 Tagsibol, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Manila (curated by Jonathan Olazo)
DISTINCTIONS & GRANTS
2022 100 Artists Grant, artlink and SüdKulturFonds, Switzerland
2019 New Cinema Competition - Shortlist, 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, UK
2019 Fernando Zóbel Prize for Visual Art - Shortlist, Ateneo Art Awards 2019, Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City
2019 National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Manila — International travel grant
2018 Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila — Exhibition grant
2014 Artist Mentorship Program — Mentee, Artery Art Space, Quezon City
2013 International exchange scholar, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France (through the auspices of the French Government)
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
Carlos Quijon, Jr., Critic’s Picks, Artforum online, Dec 2021.
Zea Asis, On Shifting Perceptions: Artist Interview with Lesley-Anne Cao and Pam Quinto, Cartellino, Dec 2021.
Meridians of Region: Writing Art History and Curating Contemporary Culture in the Philippines and Taiwan, organized and published by the Philippine Contemporary Art Network (PCAN) and the Taiwan Visual Art Archive, 2021: pp. 47, 192-209.
Christian Jil Benitez, On the prospect of sitting, Tractions: Experiments in Art Writing, June 2020.
More light than heat companion publication, edited by Lesley-Anne Cao and Alex Tuico, published by Calle Wright, 2020.
2019 Curatorial Development Workshop Exhibitions publication, edited by Carlos Quijon, Jr., published by the Philippine Contemporary Art Network and the Japan Foundation Manila, 2020: pp. 23, 80-81, 84-85, 90-92, 122.
Alain Zedrick Camiling, Would you dip in the sawsawan, too?, Art Plus Magazine, Mar 2020.
John Alexis Balaguer, More light than heat, ArtAsiaPacific Magazine Online, Oct - Nov 2019.
Zeny May Dy Recidoro, Interior Conversations I, Politics of Home, Mar 31, 2019.
Olivia Koh, Of sampaguita, ilang-ilang, Art and Australia Magazine Online, Mar 28, 2019.
Lena Cobangbang, The 2018 Art Piece/s People Should Have Been Talking About, Diskurso Online Art Magazine, Dec 14, 2018.
Arianna Mercado, 'The Hand, The Secretary, A Landscape' at the CCP, The Philippine Star, June 25, 2018.
Zeny May Dy Recidoro, Solitary Work, June 25, 2018.
Gaby Gloria, Meet the 26-year-old who's currently holding a solo exhibition at the CCP, Young Star (The Philippine Star), June 13, 2018.
Javelyn Ramos, 4 young Filipino artists participate in Manila's Artery Mentorship Program, Art Radar Journal, May 12, 2014.
SELECTED WRITING
“To cinema limbo”, Power Naps Post, Volume 1 Number 2, ed. Wing Chan, Para Site, Hong Kong, Aug 2023
“Nothing to time”, Issue 2: Points of Connection, ed. Andy Butler, West Space Offsite, West Space, Naarm/Melbourne, Jul 2020
“Subtitles or a love poem in plain language”, Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art, ed. Judy Freya Sibayan, Manila, Dec 2019
“A Stage, A Pool”, Traffic Vol. 1, MIKI LTD. (Quezon City) and Project Space Pilipinas (Lucban, Quezon), Dec 2017
TALKS
Linangan Art Residency, Alfonso, Cavite, Feb 2024 — Artist Talk as Visiting Mentor
ALT Conversations: Female Artists as Risk-takers, ALT Philippines 2024, SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City, Feb 2024 — Panelist
Residency Open Studio Presentations, Gasworks, London, Mar 2023 — Artist Talk
Patikim Linangan Art Residency Culmination Exhibition and Presentations, Alfonso, Cavite, Oct 2023 — Guest Critic
How to Survive Life and its Disasters, with Donna Miranda, Lena Cobangbang, and Allison Collins, Recollective and VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Mar 2021 — Speaker
The hand, the secretary, a landscape, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, July 2018 — Artist talk with Gary-Ross Pastrana
2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Major in Painting), University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts - Diliman
2013 International Exchange Scholar, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 If time is an arrow, what is its target, Underground Gallery, Makati City
2021 A song plays from another room, MO_Space, Taguig City
2021 Hard and soft prayers, The Drawing Room, Makati City
2018 The hand, the secretary, a landscape, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila
RESIDENCIES
2023 Gasworks Artist Residency, Gasworks, London
2019 Örö Residency Programme, Örö, Finland — Residency and exhibition We Meet at the Seaside curated by Erica Yu Wen Huang and Nina-Maria Oförsagd
2017 Keelung Ciao, Keelung, Taiwan — Residency and exhibition curated by Yi-Hsuan Kuo and Erica Yu Wen Huang
GROUP EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2024
Revisiting the Landscape, MO_Space Gallery, Taguig City (curated by Gerry Tan)
Weather-world, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong (curated by Jims Lam and Carlos Quijon, Jr.)
Level 13A, A+ Works of Art, Kuala Lumpur at the Hotel Art Fair, Intercontinental Bangkok Sukhumvit, Bangkok
you were there from the beginning, Modeka Art Space, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
2023
Nothing human is alien to me, A+ Works of Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr.)
There are always flowers for those who want to see them, West Gallery, Quezon City
A Great Show, The Drawing Room, Makati City
INTERTEXTILE II: Works on Fabric in Green Papaya Art Projects’ Archive, Studio Mano, Antique
The eye cuts where the hand lands, Gravity Art Space, Quezon City (curated by Pristine de Leon)
2022
Mise en Place, Appetite, Singapore (curated by Yun Teng Seet)
An aging double, MO_Space Gallery, Taguig City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
Hitherto V: Mothering from a Distance, Project Space Pilipinas, Lucban, Quezon
Beneath the Common Surface, Kaida Contemporary Gallery, Quezon City
happyseventh, Underground Gallery, Makati City
2021
Last Words, ROH Projects, Jakarta, Indonesia
Cast But One Shadow, University of the Philippines Vargas Museum, Quezon City (curated by Kathleen Ditzig and Carlos Quijon, Jr. with artwork commissioned by KONNECT-ASEAN Foundation)
No More Mesmerizations, Bangkok Biennial 2020/1 - Manila/Online Pavilion (curated by Vincent Ardidon)
2020
I’m finding it hard to believe, Modeka Art Space, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
Florae – The Women Artists : The Special Project for MSAC 10th Anniversary III, Mind Set Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Issue 2: Points of Connection, West Space Offsite (Online Program), West Space, Melbourne, Australia (edited by Andy Butler)
Jack of Golds, Blanc Gallery, Quezon City
this walk, a hunt; this path, a quarry, Artinformal Gallery, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
3rd Kamias Triennial: Sawsawan in the Dirty Kitchen, Kamias Special Projects, Quezon City (curated by Patrick Cruz, Su-ying Lee, and Allison Collins)
2019
a knowing intimacy or a life, University of the Philippines Vargas Museum, Quezon City (curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr)
To give a moment a name (with Derek Tumala and Katherine Nuñez), The Drawing Room, Makati City (curated by Con Cabrera)
Courses of Action, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong and Para Site, Hong Kong (curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr.)
More light than heat (with Lao Lianben), Calle Wright, Manila (curated by Arianna Mercado)
City of Bawal, 1335Mabini Gallery, Makati City (curated by Roy Voragen)
Of sampaguita, ilang-ilang (with MJ Flamiano and Czar Kristoff), c3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, Australia
A Public Collection of the Hidden but Familiar, Limbo, Makati City (curated by Tropikalye/Nice Buenaventura)
15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, The Maltings Theatre, Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK
19th Seoul International New Media Festival, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea
Asian Artist Moving Image Platform: 2nd Curatorial Forum (with Los Otros), Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus, Seoul, South Korea
2nd Hobiennale (with recess), Cinema One, Hobart, Tasmania
.giff Festival of New Cinema (with Los Otros), Warehouse Eight, Makati City
2018
Fieldnotes, Makiling Botanic Gardens and Nomina Nuda, Los Baños, Laguna (curated by Nomina Nuda and Para://Site Projects)
Spin Cycle, 25 Humabon Street, Magallanes Village, Makati City (curated by Kiat Kiat Projects)
Quid Pro Quo, Bangkok Biennial, Bangrak Market, Bangkok, Thailand (curated by Liv_id Collective and Alice Sarmiento)
100 Films for One Hundred Years: Hidden Cinema, Ayala Museum, Makati City (curated by Nick Deocampo)
Yielding Nodes, Kuna ng Dahon, Silang, Cavite (curated by Para://Site Projects)
Composite Circuits, Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, Makati City (curated by Dayang Yraola)
To eat is to survive to be hungry, 1335Mabini Gallery, Manila (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
2017
Lost Frames VII: [REC], Green Papaya Art Projects/Catch272, Quezon City
The Arm (with Itos Ledesma), 98B Collaboratory, Manila
Parle pas français, merci, Corredor Gallery, U.P. College of Fine Arts, Quezon City
D, Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
2015
PaperViews15: Rapid Cycling, Project Space Pilipinas, Lucban, Quezon
Nonfiction (with Lou Lim and Issay Rodriguez), Project 20, Quezon City
Bull in the Heather, Art Center/Galerie Anna, Mandaluyong City (curated by Lena Cobangbang)
REPULSE, MAKNA Seni Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia (curated by Asep Topan)
Preview Magazine 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Green Sun, Makati City (curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana)
Pop+art: Productions, Artery Art Space, Quezon City
Project Bakawan Arts Festival, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City
SiLab: Sining Laboratoryo Arts Festival, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna
2014
Unisex, Artery Art Space, Quezon City
Luminescence, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila
Objection, PAN/// Project Space, 98B Collaboratory, Manila (curated by Asep Topan)
2013
Je ne sais pas encore, exactament, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
Thin Skinned, Light and Space Contemporary, Quezon City
2012 Being, Sining Kamalig, Quezon City
2010 Y, Sining Kamalig, Quezon City (curated by Nestor Vinluan)
2009 Tagsibol, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Manila (curated by Jonathan Olazo)
DISTINCTIONS & GRANTS
2022 100 Artists Grant, artlink and SüdKulturFonds, Switzerland
2019 New Cinema Competition - Shortlist, 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, UK
2019 Fernando Zóbel Prize for Visual Art - Shortlist, Ateneo Art Awards 2019, Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City
2019 National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Manila — International travel grant
2018 Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila — Exhibition grant
2014 Artist Mentorship Program — Mentee, Artery Art Space, Quezon City
2013 International exchange scholar, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France (through the auspices of the French Government)
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
Carlos Quijon, Jr., Critic’s Picks, Artforum online, Dec 2021.
Zea Asis, On Shifting Perceptions: Artist Interview with Lesley-Anne Cao and Pam Quinto, Cartellino, Dec 2021.
Meridians of Region: Writing Art History and Curating Contemporary Culture in the Philippines and Taiwan, organized and published by the Philippine Contemporary Art Network (PCAN) and the Taiwan Visual Art Archive, 2021: pp. 47, 192-209.
Christian Jil Benitez, On the prospect of sitting, Tractions: Experiments in Art Writing, June 2020.
More light than heat companion publication, edited by Lesley-Anne Cao and Alex Tuico, published by Calle Wright, 2020.
2019 Curatorial Development Workshop Exhibitions publication, edited by Carlos Quijon, Jr., published by the Philippine Contemporary Art Network and the Japan Foundation Manila, 2020: pp. 23, 80-81, 84-85, 90-92, 122.
Alain Zedrick Camiling, Would you dip in the sawsawan, too?, Art Plus Magazine, Mar 2020.
John Alexis Balaguer, More light than heat, ArtAsiaPacific Magazine Online, Oct - Nov 2019.
Zeny May Dy Recidoro, Interior Conversations I, Politics of Home, Mar 31, 2019.
Olivia Koh, Of sampaguita, ilang-ilang, Art and Australia Magazine Online, Mar 28, 2019.
Lena Cobangbang, The 2018 Art Piece/s People Should Have Been Talking About, Diskurso Online Art Magazine, Dec 14, 2018.
Arianna Mercado, 'The Hand, The Secretary, A Landscape' at the CCP, The Philippine Star, June 25, 2018.
Zeny May Dy Recidoro, Solitary Work, June 25, 2018.
Gaby Gloria, Meet the 26-year-old who's currently holding a solo exhibition at the CCP, Young Star (The Philippine Star), June 13, 2018.
Javelyn Ramos, 4 young Filipino artists participate in Manila's Artery Mentorship Program, Art Radar Journal, May 12, 2014.
SELECTED WRITING
“To cinema limbo”, Power Naps Post, Volume 1 Number 2, ed. Wing Chan, Para Site, Hong Kong, Aug 2023
“Nothing to time”, Issue 2: Points of Connection, ed. Andy Butler, West Space Offsite, West Space, Naarm/Melbourne, Jul 2020
“Subtitles or a love poem in plain language”, Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art, ed. Judy Freya Sibayan, Manila, Dec 2019
“A Stage, A Pool”, Traffic Vol. 1, MIKI LTD. (Quezon City) and Project Space Pilipinas (Lucban, Quezon), Dec 2017
TALKS
Linangan Art Residency, Alfonso, Cavite, Feb 2024 — Artist Talk as Visiting Mentor
ALT Conversations: Female Artists as Risk-takers, ALT Philippines 2024, SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City, Feb 2024 — Panelist
Residency Open Studio Presentations, Gasworks, London, Mar 2023 — Artist Talk
Patikim Linangan Art Residency Culmination Exhibition and Presentations, Alfonso, Cavite, Oct 2023 — Guest Critic
How to Survive Life and its Disasters, with Donna Miranda, Lena Cobangbang, and Allison Collins, Recollective and VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Mar 2021 — Speaker
The hand, the secretary, a landscape, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, July 2018 — Artist talk with Gary-Ross Pastrana