Provenance: Provenance: Christies, Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, HongKong, November 27, 2005, Lot 74 Private collection, HongKong

ABOUT THE WORK

Mark Justiniani’s works are informed by a deeply ingrained personal experience, a deep awareness of social issues, and an astute reading of Filipino folk art traditions and language. Justiniani’s art is not a simple reading of the modern world but a finely balanced interpretation of historical fact with a contemporary perspective. These works spring from the artist’s investigation of folk culture including the use of language, and what one may draw from it is indicative of the indigenous frame of mind. These paintings seem to take place in the unlimited space of his mind, translated as the sky in the day or at night, with floating clouds or twinkling stars. At times, the images even seem to take place in an enclosed space but the artist may evoke a theatrical tableau. In the center of the frame are Justiniani’s central figures. At the bottom part, we see a man intently reading the stack of papers before him, seemingly unaware of the relatively plumpier man riding on his shoulders. His subjects contain all the hallmarks of a Justiniani piece, with their seemingly magical realism style and treatment, as well as postmodern and post-colonial connotations. A multi-awarded artist, Justiniani was granted the Thirteen Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1994. He is a welltraveled artist and has represented the Philippines in various international conferences, workshops, and exhibitions in Japan, Denmark, Australia, and the USA.