IJWBAA [eej-wah] is a Filipino digital artist, neologist, and the first Filipino recognized in Techspressionism. Standing at the intersection of art and technology, he is the originator of Decolonial Minimalism—an art movement that reclaims minimalism through ancestral memory and cultural reawakening. His theories on Decolonial Minimalism are cited in academic research (2025) and indexed in Google Scholar alongside foundational minimalist discourse. Furthermore, his contributions to computer art have been published on Academia.edu.
His artistic achievements have earned significant international recognition. His work exploring the boundaries of new media earned a spot on the shortlist for the Hiiibrand Design and Illustration Awards 2024 in China. He was also selected by David Quiles Guilló, Director of The Wrong, to participate in the 7th Edition of The Wrong Biennale—described by The New York Times as the digital world's answer to the Venice Biennale—with Prayers to Ai, further cementing his standing in the international digital art community. In 2026, his work Inabal was selected for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Long Island New York (MoCA L.I.ghts: Antiquity to Innovation), marking his first museum-associated exhibition.
In addition to his exhibitions, IJWBAA's body of work is widely archived across global research libraries and museums. His collected works, compiled in two volumes titled I Just Wannabe an Artist, have been recognized, officially archived, cataloged, and made available in the collections of the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Museo Reina Sofía, the National Museum of the Philippines, the Getty Research Institute, and other prominent cultural institutions worldwide. The two volumes are cataloged in WorldCat under OCLC Numbers 1530632939 (Book 1) and 1530636063 (Book 2).
Please note: My previous website, wannabelabs.com, has been officially retired. For those interested in revisiting its archived pages, you can explore snapshots via the Wayback Machine at archive.org/web. All updates, archives, and new projects are now hosted here on my current site. Thank you for continuing the journey with me.