Mark Lloyd Benavente Belicario, a 35-year old full-time artist from Basak, San Nicholas, Cebu City. And a member of Aroma Art Atelier (AAA) lead by the living master Orley Ypon

Belicario started to paint at a very young age and loved doing the craft as early as 5-years old. When he entered college, he did not take up Fine Arts, which could have developed his skills in painting, as the course was very expensive compared to other courses.

Another factor which hindered Belicario to advance his painting endeavors was his father’s objection towards his desired field. His father was not in favor of his chosen career in painting as his father, considering the practical consequences of such a profession, was not in favor of his son pursuing a career in painting. He wanted his son to work a decent job that would pay him regularly, as opposed to painting which gives no assurance for better opportunities.

Belicario went to the University of San Jose-Recoletos as an Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) student. Upon reaching his third year in college, he needed to stop studying due to financial restrictions. Despite his situation, he never gave up and he took this opportunity to do the thing he always loved to do: topaint. That time, he began attending workshops and started joining various competitions both local and national. There were times that he lost in the contests he joined, but most of the time, he won.

Local/International Award Receive

2009 ArtPetron 9 Philippine Painting Competition
(finalists)

2010 Ramon Magsaysay Philippine Painting Competition ( Grand Price Winner)

2010 ArtPetron 10 Philippine Painting Competition
(1st Runner Up)

2012 1st Cebu National Philippine Painting Competition AAP Theme “Filipino Way of Life” ( Grand Price Winner)

2013 Metrobank Art & Design Excellence(MADE) Visual Arts Competition
(Finalist)

2016 International Eucharistic Congress National Painting Competition
( Grand Price Winner)

2018 Manila Bulletin 8th annual Sketchfest competition Cebu
( Grand Price Winner)

2018 WWK World Wide Kitsch Competition
(Finalist)

2019 Metrobank Art & Design Excellence(MADE) Visual Arts Competition
(Finalist) Figurative category

2019 WWK World Wide Kitsch Competition
(Finalist) Figurative category

2019 WWK World Wide Kitsch Competition
(Finalist) Landscape category

2019 WWK World Wide Kitsch Competition
(Grand Price Winner) Portrait category

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.