RAUL HEMBRA LEBAJO (b.1941) took up Art Studies at the University of the East in 1966-67. He graduated with a BFA from the Philippine Women’s University in 1969. Lebajo won first prize in the 1969 Shell National Student Art Competition. He has held shows around the world, including Le Plaza Hotel in Switzerland, Chicago Cultural Center, World Art Exhibit in France, National Gallery of Kuala Lumpur and Art Center of Silpakorn University in Thailand.
With his works featured in important collections abroad, including the Chicago Cultural Center in the United States, Le Plaza Hotel in Switzerland and the Asian Art Archive in Hong Kong, Lebajo is one of the most recognized artists outside the country. Along with Galo Ocampo and HR Ocampo, Lebajo can be credited for popularizing a distinctly Philippine brand of surrealism. While his contemporaries were using traditional genre subjects or social themes, Lebajo was creating images that are dreamlike and hallucinogenic. This paved the way for a new generation of surrealists and expressionists, such as Olmedo. Long before anyone was concerned with the welfare of the environment, Lebajo was consistently using themes of nature and the preservation of the environment in his paintings.
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