Urban life is a moving target—chaotic, vibrant, spontaneous—and in Cityrama, Monnar captures it in full throttle.
Departing from the meditative stillness of his Tree of Life and Fortune Tree series, Cityrama is a bold return to wild, expressive terrain. In this latest exhibition, Monnar dives deep into the living pulse of cities—especially Baguio and Manila, which he has traveled between for over a decade—with a modern abstract expressionist lens. The works, created between 2012 and 2024, are a culmination of long drives, mental snapshots, and emotional observations that have built up and burst forth in this vibrant new series.
Rendered in graphic, cartoonlike strokes and unexpected color fields, the cityscapes in Cityrama aren’t precise maps—they are visual impressions of movement, traffic, architecture, clutter, and humanity colliding. There's an unmistakable spontaneity in Baldemor’s strokes—splashes that seem almost accidental, layers that feel intuitively stacked rather than meticulously planned. They mirror the emotional push and pull of urban living: frustration, wonder, fatigue, humor.
“There are days when the city wears you down. But then, there are colors, sounds, things that snap you back in. Cityrama is how I’ve learned to paint both the noise and the poetry,” Monnar notes.
The result is a playful yet deeply felt interpretation of city life—its visual language teetering between chaos and structure, like traffic moving in patterns only the heart can decode. This is not a lament, nor is it a celebration. It’s a reckoning—with asphalt, routine, sirens, signage, neon, and the occasional glimpse of sky between buildings.
In a time where cities seem to overwhelm the senses more than ever, Cityrama invites us to feel it all and let go. To embrace the overwhelm, turn it into color, and find personal rhythm in collective chaos. These works ask: What does your city feel like when you stop trying to control it? What stories emerge when you stop resisting its noise?
For Monnar’s long-time collectors, Cityrama is a thrilling divergence—a chance to see the artist unbound, expressive, and raw. For new fans, it’s an electrifying entry point: a celebration of the imperfect, the energetic, the urban.
Welcome to Cityrama. Hang on—it’s going to be a wild ride.