Literature: House: A Collection of Paintings of Philippine Houses, by Ramon N. Villegas and Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, 2017; Full Color Illustration, Page 91; with text on pages 92, 93.

ABOUT THE WORK

One of the most outstanding Filipino abstract artists today, Jigger P. Cruz was born in 1984 in Malabon. He graduated BFA Fine Arts, major in Advertising, at Far Eastern University. He is partially color-blind, so he has formulated his own method of color comprehension. Whereas normal sight derives emotion from color stimuli, it is form and movement that inspire him. Because of frustration and lack of confidence, he felt that he was discriminated against, such as when he joined the Metrobank (2003) and the Phillip Morris (2006) competition. He stopped painting for a while. Eventually, he decided to refuse to be affected by what people had to say. He persisted in showing in various galleries, such as in the show “Pink Fumes” (2007, Pablo Gallery, Cubao); “Swing” (2008, Blanc Art Space, Makati); “Constructing Deconstruction” (2009, Tala Gallery, Q.C.); “Tabi Tabi Po” (1:AM Gallery, San Francisco, CA); “Watching the Wheels” (2010, Ayala Museum). His work was shown in “Dead End” (2011, West Gallery, Q.C.); “Glitch Habitation” (2012, Primae Noctis Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland) Perhaps reflecting his mood, he started doing work centering on deconstruction and defacement, acts of vandalization. The early work at hand is not blatantly iconoclastic. The dissatisfied face of a woman dominates the picture. A colorful cloth adorns her head; pearls glisten at her throat. At her mouth is a house: she is both kissing it, and talking incessantly about it. It is an upper-class house: so it is not only shelter and nest. It is also a means to validate and increase her social status. Ironically, as he has attained success after success, the artist has started collecting actual houses. (From the Ramon Villegas archives.)