Jose “Pinggot” Zulueta is a Filipino photographer, painter, and cartoonist whose multidisciplinary practice bridges documentary insight and expressive visual interpretation. He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas, grounding his artistic formation in one of the country’s most influential fine‑arts programs.
Zulueta’s career spans both visual journalism and fine art. In 2002, he presented a major solo exhibition, “Asinta: Images and Imageries in the Philippines,” accompanied by a collaborative book with writer Vim Nadera. His second solo exhibition, the “Aotearoa” series, featured twenty-five oil and acrylic paintings and was held at the Philippine Center in New York, marking his growing international presence.
Across his work, Zulueta often explores themes of identity, displacement, and collective memory. Art critic Gino Dormiendo described his paintings as probing “the depths of the soul of a people perpetually thrust into an existential limbo,” portraying a nation searching for its memory and identity. Dormiendo noted that Zulueta’s postmodern sensibility shaped in part by extended life abroad confronts the psyche of a people grappling with loss, mortality, and cultural fragmentation.
Zulueta’s practice, spanning photography, painting, and illustration, reflects a deep engagement with Filipino experience and emotional landscape. His work stands at the intersection of reportage and introspection, offering viewers images that are both culturally grounded and psychologically resonant.
