Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

For years, Michael Cacnio has been interpreting conventional Filipino genre scenes into sculptural creations, inflecting them with three-dimensional heft and palpable intimacy. In this depiction of a fisherman, for instance, Cacnio introduces an alert dynamism to the pose of the figure, whose outstretched leg balances on a makeshift ladder while the other, bent, is firmly planted on a boulder. With his rod upraised but tilted at an angle (with the line, curving in air, provides a thoughtful counterpoint), the fisherman grasps a just-caught fish that will join the rest in a basket already teeming with an abundant harvest. The humanity in the fisherman is credibly communicated by the form, which makes this work by Cacnio such a sight and joy to behold.