Meet Bacolod's new street artist, the White Man

Have you ever seen a street artist or living statue in the Philippines? In Baguio, there's the Green Man while in Cebu, there's the Blue Man.

Now, in Bacolod, the City of Smiles, there's a new street artist known as the White Man, as seen on Kuya Kim's Thursday report on "24 Oras."

Would you believe that the White Man is a senior high school student named Ritchard Obina?

And believe it or not, Ritchard spends two hours on his transformation.

"Pagkatapos ko po ng klase, umuwi po ako sa bahay tapos po inaayos ko na costume ko. Then, aalis na po ako, doon po ako nagbibihis. Nagpe-perform po ako sa downtown, minsan po tatlong oras. Ang pinaka-mataas ko po ng oras is seven hours," he said.

"Ginawa ko pong itong libangan, sir, sa sining, sir, at passion ko na po ito. Ginawa ko po ito para sa pamilya po at sa aking pag-aaral," he added.

He doesn't do it every day, but what he earns is a big help to his family. He sometimes earns P200-P300. At least once, he said he earned as much as P700.

Kuya Kim said that according to historians, living statues date back to the medieval period.

During the Renaissance era, the art form was called Tableau Vivant. The artists dressed up and painted themselves, and they usually stopped moving for long periods of time so people could better visualize what they wanted to show.

In the early 20th century, a German actress named Olga Desmond posed naked and imitated classical works of art.

Aside from that, there are also various Living Statue Festivals all over the world.

In Arnhem, Netherlands, they have been holding the World Living Statue Festivals since 1996.

The University of Business and Social Sciences in Buenos Aires, Argentina hosts the National Contest of Living Statues. In Bucharest, Romania, they have the International Festival of Living Statues.

—Kimberly Tsao/MGP, GMA Integrated News