Provenance: Private Collection, Bacolod City

ABOUT THE WORK

A wide critical consensus exists that, after National Artist Napoleon Abueva, Eduardo Castrillo was the next great Filipino modernist sculptor. His body of work — which spans from jewelry to tabletop creations to monumental landmarks — attests to this. His mastery of the sculptural medium is conveyed by this low relief in brass which Castrillo accomplished in 1971. The work, with the darkened passages on the metal, convey a night scene, with the color of the brass evoking a nearby fire or source of light. It may possibly allude to the Biblical story of Lots’ wife who looks at Sodom before turning into a pillar of salt or something less specific. Despite the narrative potentially being open to a variety of interpretations, the human drama is palpable and electric. This work, rare in the oeuvre of Castrillo, is a testimony to the brilliance of the famed sculptor gone too soon.