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

ABOUT THE WORK

Medalla is arguably the Philippines’ most outrageous internationally acclaimed artist. If he created his oeuvre decades ago, his work may have been censored or if he had shows a little more than half a century ago, even confiscated from galleries. His fame lies on how far he can push the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable for art. And he has not been ignored by the art establishment, regarding him as the equivalent of a huge boulder in the landscape, noting the conspicuousness of his edginess. Primitive naiveté, if there is such a combination of adjectives, informs David Cortez Medalla’s painting of a hatted man and tree branches. During the last midcentury, David Cortez Medalla started a radical way of seeing which got the attention of London, thus “bad” art has been sought out for its off-kilter “badness”. More than half a century later, Medalla has created a body of work that is dauntingly diverse even as it has happened anywhere but here. About his naive approach, the artist says: “it’s not literal-minded like the Mabini school that shows the real, but if you begin to examine.” “I’m so deeply Filipino; it’s always been part of my process. But at the same time I’m a Filipino with a critical eye. I am critical about my own art, which is why I keep looking for new things. Just as a human being, you have to be critical.”