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Artist Markus Jentes Blends Geometry with Emotions in New Solo Exhibit
Metro.Style July 03, 2026 09:45 AM PHT
Prepare for an art exhibit that is set to evoke powerful emotions.
Visual artist Markus Jentes invites people to experience introspection with art appreciation at his upcoming solo exhibit “Quiet Collisions: Geometries of a Fractured Calm,” which runs from July 4 to September 7, 2026 at the Altro Mondo at The Picasso, The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences in Makati City.
The exhibit will showcase Jentes’ evolution from hard-edge precision to a more introspective, emotionally charged abstraction. Though his works are grounded in a disciplined background in geometry, design, and advertising, this time around, he is making a decisive turn towards vulnerability, which becomes evident in layered surfaces where clean lines, flat planes, and measured grids coexist with stains, drips, erasures, and unexpected materials—acrylic, paper, spray paint, coffee, pencil, ink, and more.
Metro.Style chatted with Markus Jentes to get a deeper narrative on how he brought his art to life with this intriguing theme.
First off, it is important to understand where Jentes is coming from—literally and figuratively.
Jentes has always been surrounded by art and different variations of aesthetic as his father, the late Peter Jentes, had an extensive career as a hotelier and as the founder of Asia Arts House. His dad opened The Gallery at the Hyatt Regency Manila during his time as the hotel’s general manager. His mother Minnie Cagatao, a former model and beauty queen, was an interior designer. Both played an influential role in his love for the arts.
“I think as far back as I can remember, maybe when I was about two or three years old, when my father and mother had an antiques shop at the Hyatt Hotel and [we’re] also living partly in the hotel before eventually moving to a house, it was always filled with some sort of art or antiques or a mix of both. My mom had a little bit of a background in interior design, and then Dad—he was not an artist, but he was a big appreciative person towards arts and culture. That was constantly around me when I was growing up,” Jentes began.
“Naturally, I was curious and always wondered about what I could do in this field someday, starting with drawing and eventually photography, fine art, and all sorts of creative things along the way. [Art] was literally a part of my life,” he continued.
It’s not surprising that his chosen career would be arts-related, and Jentes found himself exercising his creative muscles in advertising.
“Advertising was a career that I could explore creatively without having the pressure of being a starving artist. It was a great opportunity for me to at least see what else is out there, establish myself through a career, but always remain creative. I think from there, it was easier for me to transition slowly into taking fine art more seriously,” he shared.
When he reached his early 40s, Jentes decided that it was the right time to pursue his passion for visual arts and make a career switch by doing it full-time.
The transition to fine art revealed a lot about Jentes as an artist. The discipline he learned in advertising and growing up in a German household, where planning is paramount, translated into his works, where structure became a foundation. He found himself drawn to incorporating expressionism and geometry as well as highlighting contrasts and opposites in his art.
“I don’t know why over the years and through my life, I always kept coming back to these particular styles. I was always fascinated by how lines divide, and lines also connect and unite. That mixing in with fluidity and how life really is, where nothing is ever in a straight line. It’s a fascinating subject to play with and to delve into,” the artist explained.
“So for me, trying to create what I see in those two specific things and how they mix together is really something truly unique. People think that what I do every time I come up with something new every few years [like] a series changes, and that it could be drastically different from the previous. But for those who know, they see a common denominator there. There’s always something that connects all of them together, no matter how different they look, and that is really that theme: geometry and fluidity mixed together,” Jentes thoughtfully shared.
However, just because his journey almost always leads him to a common theme, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t challenge himself to go beyond the familiar. In fact, Jentes went through an artistic shift that forced him to embrace a more expressive and introspective approach to his works.
Jentes felt that his background was too restrictive; he could not simply unlearn the discipline and meticulous planning from his past career and family background. Thankfully, it was this realization and self-awareness that ultimately inspired him to shed the “too planned” and “too restricted” parts of his art.
“I said, maybe I should let the art and the feelings go. Let’s see where that takes me and my art. You can definitely plan for sure about what you want to do, where you might want to go, but there’s really no telling how it will ever come out and, of course, when you may even be done with it. I think it is the beauty of that shift and that pivot. I’ve realized that sometimes there is no finality yet. It takes some time, and you have to allow it to mature. You have to allow it to express itself even without you. You just push it along, and sometimes it tells you what needs to be done and how, or maybe you have to let go of it, to let it take shape,” he profoundly explained.
As poetic as that may sound, Jentes actually found the fun in it. “Absolutely. Because if you don’t plan, sometimes it starts taking its own shape and it surprises you quite pleasantly and you learn from it,” he smiled.
The creative pivot transpired around 2021 when internal friction began to manifest and slowly matured in his works by 2023.
“It’s not so much the technique, but it’s more like how I approach creating art now is where the pivot really lies. I can always come back to hard-line geometry, but even if they might look the same, it’s how I went through the journey to get there that is now completely different,” the artist noted.
It was actually Jentes’ artistic shift and personal crises that served as inspirations for his exhibit, “Quiet Collisions: Geometries of a Fractured Calm.” In recent years, the artist found himself navigating the challenges of caring for and being strong for his family amid his aging father’s illness and a family member’s personal struggles. This season of his life took a toll on him, but somehow, Jentes discovered that he could channel his deep, dark frustrations and exhaustion into a form of art.
“The geometries, obviously, are a picture of me, my style, and my creative identity. But the real underlying part of this show is that it’s created from a very deep emotional and self-introspection, having dealt with life, family issues, problems, and things that are affecting you,” he confessed.
Still, he found it fascinating to learn that there’s more to art than just feeling inspired to do it.
“I’ve always liked to create art when inspired, but I realized, after having pivoted, that there was an extra step to that. It allowed me to realize how to harness negativity, maybe a bit of depression, or even things that are not always happy, and funnel it into something really fantastic. What I found was that this has been quite more impactful and more meaningful when I do art this way versus before, where it was only being inspired and only when you’re happy,” he meaningfully remarked.
“I think when artists go through deep, troubling, or maybe even disturbing parts of their lives where they don’t even think of art, suddenly when they’re ready to focus and create art—having gone through what it is they’re going through—it becomes more substantial. There’s more presence, purpose, and depth,” he declared.
The experience did not paralyze his practice but moved him instead. The exhibit appears to be the visual resolution of that intense chapter in his life.
“The fractured geometry part of the show is really the boundaries of my life cracking and reforming. It’s the lines breaking that once held things together and allowing the chaos to happen, allowing nature and God’s will to let it happen, and then rebuilding yet again after that change. It’s life. [The process] never stops. That is really the meaning behind all of these,” he said.
“The moment you surrender, suddenly the cloudiness in the mind disappears. Stepping back allows you to clear your mind, clear your heart, and attack [problems] again or leave them alone,” he continued.
Art enthusiasts who will visit Jentes’ new exhibit can expect a departure from traditional paintings as the artist heavily embraces textured mixed media. Expect the fascinating interplay of canvas with materials like rusted sheets of metal and wood as he pushes his abstract concepts into three-dimensional spaces as if mirroring the emotional weight that inspired the art.
Jentes feels that the pieces would resonate with those who would visit the exhibit, whether it’s someone who has seen his past work or someone new to them.
“I’m looking at it also from one perspective where people who have seen my art, they have a chance to understand more of my story. For those who are perhaps seeing the art for the first time, who may have no idea of what I used to do before, I think it’s also an indication of what they might be going through in their own lives. [The art] could be a nice parallel for one to also reflect on,” he concludes, optimistic that it would be impactful to those who would be able to visit the exhibit.
Ultimately, “Quiet Collisions” is more than just a visual narrative of facing depression or troubled times and learning to stand back up; it is an invitation to a shared human experience.
