| Bren Bataclan | |
| Birth Place: | Makati, Philippines |
| Occupation: | Artist |
| Alma Mater: | UCLA Ohio State University |
| Known For: | Project Smile Fe, A Traumatized Son’s Graphic Memoir |
| Spouse: | Bob Parlin (m. 1998) [1] |
Bren Bataclan is a Filipino-American artist. Based in Cambridge, he is the creator of the street art project Project Smile. He has left more than 3000 anime-inspired paintings in public spaces for passers-by to take for free if they "promise to smile at random people more often." He has given his paintings away in 80 countries and in every state in the US. [2]
Bataclan was born in the Philippines and moved to Daly City, California with his family when he was 12. As a child, he watched the Giant Robot television shows Voltes V and Mazinger that later inspired his art. He received a BA in design at UCLA and an MA in computer animation at the Ohio State University. [3]
Bataclan began his career teaching design and computer animation at UMass Amherst.[4] He became a fulltime artist in 2003 with the launch of Project Smile. In addition to the Project Smile paintings, Bataclan has painted murals at more than 300 schools, hospitals and community institutions.[5] [6]
In 2021, Bataclan's book, Fe: A Traumatized Son’s Graphic Memoir, was published by Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc (PAWA, Inc.). Focused on Bataclan's relationship with his mother, NPR wrote that Fe was a "brilliant, sensitive story of a mother and son."[7] [8] An elementary school textbook about his artwork was published by Heinemann Press.[9] In 2023 he was named Artist Fellow with the Cultural Diplomacy Initiative at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. [10]
Bataclan and his husband, Bob Parlin, live in Cambridge. They filed for a marriage license on the day same sex-marriage in Massachusetts was legally recognized and were married at the Old Cambridge Baptist Church in 2004.[11]