Noel Ed de Leon is a Filipino artist and family man living in the UK. This exhibition documents his life and experiences through paintings and mixed media artwork. The pieces reflect on his struggles raising a family abroad with limited resources, as well as themes of identity, ambition, and finding balance. De Leon uses found objects and military paraphernalia in his work to symbolize survival and endurance. The exhibition aims to share his passion for art and being a family man.

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2. Life As I Know It
Noel Ed de Leon
Photography
Noel Ed de Leon
Descriptions
produced together with
Katrina Cruz
Genevieve Schwartz
noeleddeleon@blogspot.com
deleon.noeled@yahoo.com
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3. “Life As I Know It” began to evolve soon after I started my own family.
Together with my loving and understanding wife, I experienced both
happiness and hardship trying to work and raise our children in this
country. I don’t have anything except from them, my family, which I called
my own.
It has been quite a while since I started to collect antiques and vintage
memorabilia (otherwise known as ‘found objects’). I found them as good
pieces of art, and I take an interest in military history and objects. You will
notice that found objects feature prominently throughout the exhibition.
What material I used in general, inherits and expresses the conditions of
how we have coped as a family.
This exhibition is my way of sharing my passion of being a family man and
an artist.
I take this opportunity to show you what I feel and who I am.
I am Noel Ed De Leon. Filipino Artist and family man for a lifetime.
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4. The Sunflower
2010
Acrylic paint, mixed media on canvas
100cm x 100cm
Despite the regulations and restrictions (symbolised by impaired sight and voice), which hinder at
present the strength and confidence to express one’s self, a vision of a brighter tomorrow
prevails.
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5. Boundaries of Time
2010
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
The intermittent development of this artwork is exemplified in the block areas of blue, black and
grey. Art is constrained and not enriched by time and money; the artist used the only paints that
he had left or could afford to buy. The obligation to earn and work consumes life as he knows it:
both hindering and defining the progression of his thoughts and impulses.
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6. Balance
2010
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
A quest of achieving balance permeates all areas of life: family, friendships, religion and the
environment. Striving for balance to avoid emotions of over-indulgence, defeat and weariness.
“…yellow means hope and the white is peace of mind.” The red and green colours bleed
uncontrollably across the measured and consistent pattern of the yellow and white – an
imbalance .
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7. Daydream
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
On the bus, in the train, even while walking. We dream about a lot of things: the future successes
of our children, to travel around the world with our loved one, leading a good and untainted life.
“I wake up from my daydreams and realise that I am not walking on land I can (not yet) call my
own, and I am missing my family back home.”
Daydreams are the ethereal projections of our hopes and our visions of the day when we can
finally share our successes with our loved ones.
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8. Ambitious Words
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
The layering of shades and lines is a symbolic ‘dulling’ superimposition of the obligations of the
present time on the bright ambitions and visions of the future.
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9. Everyday Life
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
“All things are limited.” The everyday routine of constant interruptions hindered the progression
of this artwork; the artist himself was limited in choices of paints he could use too. This is
conveyed through the composition’s patchy constellation and distribution of colours.
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10. I Am a Filipino
2011
Mixed media on canvas and books
A statement on the conditions of an irregular identity. The experience of being a Filipino is never a
wholesome one. There are constant moments of disorientation, confusion and feeling apart and
other.
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11. Life
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
Part One of Series ‘Lifetime’. A representation of confusion about where to start or where to go.
The black lines are symbolic of the uncontrollable nature of life.
The artist hoped to used circles instead of squares. But he thought block shapes and lines were
more appropriate.
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12. Time
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
Part Two of Series ‘Lifetime’. An optimistic progression from ‘Life’, which expresses a better sense
of clarity, coordination and continuity.
The shapes outline a man lying horizontally. The constant anxiety of deciding upon the ‘right’
direction in life is ever-present.
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13. Título
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
Title and Entitlement:
1.) An academic degree not yet been put to use or practice
2.) A good career that has been set aside.
3.) Citizenship yet to be legalised.
The colours are enclosed within the lines just as the artist feels barred and held back intellectually
and professionally.

14. Land of the Giants
2011
Metal sculpture, toy soldier, mod roc
A message that communicates alienation, intimidation and inequality. Though despite the adverse
implications, the artist also expresses feeling “…lucky. Lucky, to be living in this country, the land of
kind, intelligent, ‘tall’ people.”
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15. I Tell You My Story
2011
Mixed media on board, ceramic wheel, metal gas pipe, glass bottles, mod roc
The bottles serve as the symbols of every Filipino story. Stories that they gather to hear about and
share among each other. The bottles are dressed in white to reflect their stories are akin. This
kinship bears the root to the community that strengthens with each storyteller and listener that
joins.
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16. Noxious
2011
Mixed media on board, gas mask, vintage pulley, string
55x55cm
The irony that an apparatus used to facilitate breathing, makes us simultaneously feel anxiety,
discomfort and suffocation. This emblematic work relates the artist’s experience of moving to the
UK and adapting to his new surroundings.
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17. Go With the Flow
2011
Metal helmets, shower gel, mouthwash, water with fish, coffee, tea, milk, chocolate drink, coke, lemonade, orange
soda, Sprite, red wine, white wine, beer, whiskey, cooking oil, vinegar, soy sauce
430cm x 35cm
Reinforcing the message to follow the pace of life as it comes and not to over-complicate things; a
commonly-known, yet internal and daily struggle. The artist utilises military helmets here for
pragmatic reasons and because of their association with protection and survival.
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18. Water
2011
Military water container (stainless steel and aluminum), mess kit, books
Part 1 of ‘Elements’ series. Precious, limited and measured - Earth’s resource and source of life.
Images of war and composition of military paraphernalia induces the memories of World War II,
the arrival of the Americans and General MacArthur on water – a historic image which symbolised
the Philippines’ imminent emancipation from Japanese occupation.
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19. Earth
2011
Military folding bed, soil, plants, artificial skull, leather boots, glass bottle, ammunition shells
77x200cm
Part 2 of ‘Elements’ series. The exploration of the imminent phenomena of life and death: how an
old military folding bed can support life - as the skull also is a remnant of a physical human life -
even though its immediate connotations are with death.
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20. Fire
2011
Vintage blowtorch, vintage carbite miner’s lamp, portable stove from World War II, compass, barometer, ammeter
Part 3 of ‘Elements’ Series. Fire, one of the quintessential keys to survival. The precarious nature
of this piece represents how the ‘Elements’ hold our position on earth in balance.
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21. Diyos Ko (My God)
2011
Vintage weighing scale, rosary necklace, candles, wooden cross with plastic, coins, calculator, rice grains, potatoes,
framed picture.
A commentary on cultural symbolism of everyday objects, perceived hierarchical powers and
society’s similar treatment of religion and the monarchy in relation to the objects according to the
artist – a foreigner to a society comparatively more secular. The confusion culminates in the
audible overlapping of musical compositions ‘Zadok the Priest’ (Handel), the Coronation Anthem
and ‘Angelus’ - Orasyon in Tagalog (Filipino).
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22. Self-Portrait
2011
Painting, framed picture, chair, spot light, rubber mice, gas mask
‘Self-Portrait’ confronts the everyday challenges of devoting your life to art. In this piece, the artist
considers the example he is setting for his children by becoming an artist. He does not want his
sons to struggle the way that he has. “I imagine myself on the chair, naked, wearing the gas
mask…it’s the good, the bad and the ugly”.
The artist invites to interact with this composition, to take a photo participating in an act of self-
reflection.
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23. Pull me up
2011
Pulley (wood and metal), rope, locking karabiner, metal container
The life of the Filipino is constituted by the helping hands of their fellow Filipinos who pull them
up from below. The container is symbolic of the burden of responsibilities and/or the dreams of a
‘better life’ which Filipinos carry with them wherever they go. The installation is a physical
visualisation of an attempt to escape ‘crab’ mentality, that is of never moving forward. A positive
observation (although it is tainted with some negative connotations) about cultural solidarity.
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24. Time in a Battle
2011
Vintage wine bottle, glass jar, wood level, vintage pocket watch, plastic scale
The illusion of Time contained. Time, the centre of our energy and efforts, the positive and the
negative. It is not Time that struggles with us, it is what we struggle to hold onto, what we depend
on the most.
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25. Age of Enlightenment
2011
Buddha head, mod roc, railway lamp, old metal box, high chair, light
h:110 x l:56 x w:56cm
A reflection of the artist’s own personal Age of Enlightenment; his own exploration of the legacy
of idols through time in both Eastern and Western (English) society. The artist explains with the
statue of the Buddha that despite its physical disfigurement – the belief in the thing itself always
prevails.
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26. Cycle of Mind
2011
Bicycle, toy bicycle, mod roc
This piece equates the nature of human ambition to the nature of a bike; built with the purpose to
always move forwards. This found object, though it proved to be functional still, was located at a
dumpster. The artist comments on how it is easy to get lost along the way, to lose the sense of
direction.
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27. Kayad Kabayo (Working Life a Horse)
2011
Kick scooter, child’s bicycle, rocking horse, children’s artworks, shoes, road sign
Pairs of shoes worn day-to-day, laid out one pair in front of the other: a representation of the
perpetuating, recycled routine of daily life.
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28. Untitled
2011
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm
This piece seeks to explore the artists ‘self’. Amongst the midst of bold, rapidly produced lines and
shapes appears the clearest of all the elements of the painting - the word ‘ME’ highlighted by a
large yellow arrow. With the rest still rendered unfocussed and unclear, the artist renders his
journey of self-discovery still incomplete.
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