Born in the Philippines, Wire Tuazon (b. 1973) graduated from University of the Philippines in 1997, majoring in painting. He is the founder and president of the artist collective, Surrounded by Water, where many notable young contemporary artists of the Philippines are members. A recipient of theThirteen Artists Awards in 2003, Tuazon has held exhibitions in the Philippines and the region.Tuazon is known for his hyper-realist paintings, usually featuring words in front of a sourced image, which has no apparent relation, leaving the viewers to contemplate the relationship between the title, image and text. However, there is a broader concern about history and society, embedded in layers of meaning, available to those who manage to find the connection. Executed on stainless steel panels, the work is riddled with bullet holes. Written in Braille, a language that most people cannot comprehend is the line ‘Bouncing Balls for Samuel Beckett’, thereby increasing the difficulty in understanding Tuazon’s heavily veiled message.
