Is it a stunt or one gone awry, as an obese man with clenched fists and clad only in shorts saunters off what looked like a stage under the watchful eyes of a multitude of spectators. The man has Neil Arriola Manalo’s trademark ‘radioactive-like’ glow. A swarm of insect-like creatures seems attracted to his back while wisps of green smoke hovers above the crowd. Manalo graduated from the Far Eastern University Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts, Manila, in 1990. He was one of the reputed ‘13 Artists Award’ given by the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in 2000, and won the Grand Prize in the Art Association of the Philippines competition in 1992 and 1st Prize in the Marian Year award in 1998. He also won 2nd Prize (Watercolours) in the Metrobank Foundation national painting competition from 1988 to 1990. He was the Juror’s Choice in the 1995 Asean Arts Awards and a finalist in the 1998 finals in Hanoi which was won by Malaysia’s Kow Leong Kiang.