Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

In one of his more mysterious works, Elmer Borlongan transforms his protagonist — the famous bald guy that symbolizes the Everyman — into an incubus. Sexual and malevolent, the figure takes hold of a woman from behind her, as a small conflagration issues from his back. The background is hellish red, which also extends to the complexion of the woman, whose facial expression exhibits an attitude of nonchalance and whose one eye is missing from its socket. This work of pastel-on-paper proves that Borlongan’s conceptual and visual universe reaches even the dark recesses of the psyche, where fear and desire intertwine into a helpless, provocative dance. This is Borlongan as never before for seen: a combination of escalating terror and suspense.