Aldrino Abes came to Manila in 1995 at age 20. He first worked as a sign maker and later apprenticed to painter Carlo Magno, who exposed him to realistic interiors and facades of old houses before his mentor went into abstraction. Abes eventually abandoned this subject and found alternative expression in the rough simplicity of strokes and figures referencing highland ethnic Filipino communities. One of Abes’ works was successfully auctioned in Hong Kong 2008.