Rey Paz Contreras was born in
Parañaque, south of
Manila, and grew up in a house by the railway tracks in the crowded urban district of
Tayuman. When the railway company decided to replace the old wooden railroad sleepers, some of them 100 years old and severely damaged, Contreras bought the wood and began using it to create wooden objects. At first these were functional objects such as bowls, often reflecting irregularities in the wood. Contreras' sculpture often still has a functional aspect. Through the years, Contreras has experimented on non-traditional art materials in his quest for contemporary Filipino art. Aside from the travieza, he explored using logging refuse (roots and branches) in order to pave way for reforestation efforts and to help organize backyard industry to onion farmers who supplied and eventually were trained to use the hardwood refuse salvaged from the river as art material. After the devastating
Mount Pinatubo eruption, Contreras experimented on using the volcanic rocks and
lahar to sculpt human figures reminiscent of the indigenous
Aeta and lowland communities who were displaced by the volcanic eruption; these stone sculptures were exhibited at the
Cultural Center of the Philippines, paving way for further exploration of the volcanic materials as art media. As an artist, Contreras is also a pioneering spirit in the development of community-based ''people's art''. He has conducted workshops in the provinces and has organized self-sustaining community craft-based art groups such as Cadaclan Carvers in Pantabangan,
Nueva Ecija, Malasiqui carvers in
Pangasinan and more recently the Banglos Art Group in
Quezon Province; he has taught woodcarving on other provinces such as Capiz, Rizal and Abra. He has also been supportive of progressive religious organizations, most notable is his partnership with the Missionaries of Jesus (MJ). Some of the more popular public art of Contreras can be found on chapels like Calaruega and Chapel on the Hill in Batulao,
Batangas (near
Tagaytay); his work in
Sagada, Mountain Province is found inside the Episcopalian Church. Contreras currently has his studio near the railroad tracks in
Tondo, Manila, where he conducts his community-based art training to promote a socially-responsive 'people's art' that has developed into the Daambakal Sculptors Collective. Contreras' pioneered the use of
travieza or hardwood railroad tracks during the late 70s. ==Activism==