This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot

ABOUT THE WORK

In the hands of Angelito Antonio, everyday market scenes are imbued with poetic resonance and sly charm. There is certain liveliness in the dissonance of colors — the acid yellows, the bright greens, the cool blues, the thick blacks, that makes for the strength of this work. The sharp contours which define his figures of hunkering vendors of candles and amulets, women weaving mats, fisher folk hauling in their catch, or women going about their domestic chores as well as the distinctive manner of merging them with their environment of nipa and bamboo huts, pots, ladles, food trays, and other household objects set him apart from any school or master except perhaps Vicente Manansala, an influence on his formative years as a student which he has long cast of. For pictorial effects, Antonio chooses characters and vignettes that evoke an ordered rhythm. Agitated distortion is most pronounced in illogical positioning of the human elements beyond normal realistic proportion. Sometimes the human figures are merged with the objects and the setting. This coupled with an incisive dynamic draftsmanship and vigorous brushwork make for a potent combination. Although influenced by Vicente Manansala’s transparent cubism, Antonio’s works, as exemplified by this painting, manifest a distinct style based on juxtaposition of shapes defined with linear clarity and pure lines that blur into washed out tones. For Angelito Antonio, color represented the optimism and nobility of his lowly subjects in art, and a hope for relief from the pessimistic associations from which they are usually described with.