Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Quezon City

ABOUT THE WORK

By gently subverting the myths that surround the famous painting, Ronson Culibrina juxtaposes diverse fragments of pop-culture imagery to reconfigure an iconic image of art. With characteristic eclecticism, Culibrina reproduces Whistler’s famous image in an off-kilter contemporary spirit, thus a quotation from Art History. His practice bridges the gap between contemporary life and classical painting traditions through interventions that tackle socio-political issues and reference old masters in art history. Culibrina’s take on Whistler’s Mother is a world all its own, from its combination of simple yet unexpected elements that come to an image ultimately enigmatic yet richly suggestive of meanings. The language employed in his work runs a wide gamut of icons and images that reflect on a multitude of themes including the exchange of culture, the phenomenon of globalization, and the dynamics between art and economy, among others