Perhaps no Filipino artist has drawn the human figure more memorably than Ang Kiukok. In his countless works, the body, while appearing as a concatenation of geometric shapes, is endowed with tension and strength in its every sinew and bone, shown to be resisting from an internal or an external force. In these two drawings, the National Artist portrays the body both at relative rest and in strife. The trio of figures, while standing erect, evinces a tensive verticality, as though they are being stretched out physically to their limits. The other work features a lone body which would becoming iconic to the Ang Kiukok canon: the screaming figure. Wound tightly with barbed wire, the figure reveals a struggle of heroic proportions as the wire sends shooting pain as he attempts to break free from it. These two drawings constitute part of the National Artsit’s visual thinking as he grappled with rendering corporeality on a flat surface.
Your Inquiry was successfully sent, please wait for the reply of Leon Gallery Management.
Ang Kiukok (1931-2005)
a.) Untitled 1 b.) Untitled 2
a.) signed and dated 1968 (lower right) b.) signed and dated 1970 (lower right)
pen and ink on paper
14” x 10” (36 cm x 25 cm)
SOLD: PHP 467,200
Literature: Literature: Kiukok Drawings, Published by the department of public information, Manila, 1975, p. 98 & 82 (illustrated)