Kristone Capistrano is a Philippine-born contemporary artist working across an expanded field of drawing and portraiture, ranging from works on paper, the moving image and community collaborations. His practice is shaped by the Incarnational traditions of Filipino figurative art, approaching the human face as mysterious sites of transcendence.

In a world of increasing AI and automation, Kristone creates works that are decisively tactile, hand-made and analogue; unique gestures of mark-making; shared moments, shared meals and live collaborations that are singular and unrepeatable.

The recent death of his grandmother led him to start using brooms and household tools as alternative means of mark-making. A homage that unites the movements of drawing, sweeping and erasure with the shared memories of labour, sacrifice and hospitality embedded within the Filipino imagination.

Kristone has exhibited solo and collectively in Australia, Asia and New York. He has been awarded the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, the Royal South Australian Portrait Biennale, the Commended Prize for the Lloyd Rees Youth Award and the Blacktown Local Artist Prize. He has recently completed an Artist-in-Residence at Bundanon Art Museum and is currently preparing for a group show at the newly opened Blank Gallery in Sydney.

His works are held by the Blacktown City Council, The Lester Group, The Kennedy Art Foundation, King George V International School – Hong Kong, as well as in private collections in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Miami, New York, Manila and Hong Kong