ed defensor
Ed Defensor (b. 1945) is a multi-media artist of Iloilo City, Philippines. He has been doing art since the 1980s and has exhibited widely in the Philippines, New York, Seoul & Busan, South Korea, Bamali, North Africa, and Singapore. The venues he exhibited in included the UP Visayas Art Gallery, Museo Iloilo, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Ayala Museum of Makati City, the Vargas Museum of Quezon City, the QUBE Gallery of Cebu City, the Philippine Center of New York, The Space Art Gallery of Seoul, Korea, and the Philippine Embassy and the Miaja Gallery of Singapore. He has had more than 15 one-man exhibitions and has participated in more than a hundred group exhibitions a number of which he himself had organized and managed.
He has been active in art management and art organizations in the Visayas group of islands in Central Philippines, having been founder of Hubon Madiaas, the longest-existing art organization of Western Visayas, and charter chairman of the Visayas Islands Visual Artist Association, at one time the largest art association of the Philippines. He has also served in the National Committee of the Visual Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He is listed in the Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in the volumes on the Visual Arts, Theater and Dance.
He was Professor of Art History at the University of the Philippines Visayas, and was Most Outstanding Professional Jubilarian of this University in 2006. In 2011, the university honored him with an “Ed Defensor Gallery” located inside the Museum Complex of the UP Visayas Iloilo City campus. The gallery contains the university's collection of his artworks beginning from the time he joined the university in 1975. He has also been awarded by the Province of Iloilo in Central Philippines the title of Most Distinguished Ilonggo in the Visual Arts in 2008. In 2010, the Visayas Biennale in Cebu City, Philippines, honored him with the "Garbo sa Bisaya" ("Leading Light of the Visayas") Award. In 2013, The JCI Regatta International of Iloilo City awarded him the "Pinoy Icon, Juan Luna Award" in the Visual Arts (Juan Luna is a National Hero of the Philippines regarded as the greatest visual artist of the Philippines) and in 2014 the Municipality of Dumangas, Iloilo accorded him the honor of “Most Outstanding Son of Dumangas in the Arts”. In early 2017, SM City, owner of the biggest malls in Asia, in its national project, “My City, My SM, My Art”, where it exhibited in its biggest malls the visual art gems of the regions, appointed him the “Master Artist” in its first exhibition for 2017 at SM City Iloilo. He was accompanied by 15 upcoming and established artists of the province.
Ed Defensor is also an actively practicing sculptor of the country and is the sculptor of three iconic monuments in Iloilo City: the Donato M. Pison Monument in Baranggay San Rafael, Iloilo City; the "Lin-ay Sang Iloilo", an 18-foot monument in bronze that presently stands at the dome of the New Iloilo City Hall which has now become the icon of Iloilo City and Province and which is the only bronze sculpture of that size standing on top of a building in the Philippines; and the St. Ignatius of Loyola Monument of Ateneo de Iloilo, probably the biggest St. Ignatius sculpture in the whole world.
Also a performing artist, Ed Defensor, was artistic director for 35 years of the University of the Philippines performing group for Hiligaynon Music Theater, during which time he was able to write, direct and music-score practically all the productions of the theater group, approximately numbering thirty, two of which gained national and international exposure. His production of “ Ang Babaylan” was given a National Performance Tour by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and then later sent to Malaysia in 1990 as the official Philippine representative to the the 1st ASEAN Universities’ Folk-Arts Festival. His other production, “ Apik!”, a dance-drama based on the legend of a mountain in Iloilo Province, was sent to Melbourne, Australia in 1994 as the official Philippine Representative to ORFF 100 International Conference on Music and Dance.
(p.s.) Ed Defensor’s achievements in the performing arts are not included in this website.
#########
