With an extraordinary eye for the ordinary, Elmer Borlongan represents the Filipino going about life. This special talent is revisited anew as The Metropolitan Museum of Manila (The Met) opens the new year with “Elmer Borlongan: An Extraordinary Eye for the Ordinary.”

Curated by historian and curator Ambeth Ocampo, the exhibit features a survey of Borlongan’s body of works in celebration of 25 years of his artistic career.

The exhibit retells the stories of everyday life—in over 200 works from 1979 to 2015—based on what he sees in his surroundings. The murals, paintings, and drawings that fill the walls of this exhibition reflect on Borlongan’s practice and continued commitment to his art, vision, and powerful visual narratives.

Born in Manila in 1967, Borlongan has been drawing and painting since childhood and his chemist father was his first teacher. He, however, formally began art lessons at the age of 11 under artist Fernando Sena.

The sought-after artist became a founding member of the famed Grupong Salingpusa, initially an informal group of young student artists, which would later become significant voices in the Philippine contemporary art movement, including such figures as Joy Mallari, Karen Flores and Manny Garibay.

A subset of Grupong Salingpusa, consisting of Borlongan, Mallari, Flores, Mark Justiniani, and Federico Slevert, later came together to form the Sanggawa Art Collective in 1994. In that same year, Borlongan became a recipient of the CCP Thirteen Artist Award in 1994.

Borlongan got his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, major in Painting at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in 1987.

Borlongan’s exposure to the poor areas in Tondo in Manila and in Montalban and Antipolo in Rizal province where he apprenticed under Sena during workshops would help provide Borlongan with much of the imagery that would become the subjects of his later works.

Notable in his works are his steadfast characters—the street vendors, sidewalk beggars, assiduous disabled men, and scenes that portray local traditions and cultural practices that engage society today.

Borlongan’s figurative expressionism hits chords with avid collectors and observant laypeople alike; one of the widely sought after in art auctions all over South East Asia.

Elmer Borlongan: An Extraordinary Eye for the Ordinary is on view at The Met until March 28.