Provenance: Provenance: Galleria Duemila, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Amaster of abstract expressionism and a pioneer of Filipino Modernism, Jose Joya redefined the possibilities of artistic expression by creating new and nuanced masterpieces. His works spearheaded the development of Filipino abstraction beyond the confines of predominantly Western influences by combining traditional techniques with the vivacity of local aesthetics. Joya’s immutable penchant for color and calligraphic gestures helped define the local art scene for decades. Here, Joya’s painting becomes sparer and quite distinctive in terms of color sensibility and paint quality. Working in oil, Joya places great emphasis on eliminating excessive brushwork and all evidence of heavy handling, aiming for totally flat and even skins of pigment that maintains the integrity of the picture plane. The almost austere geometric and organic abstractions have more of a chaotic yet coherent look that is utterly different from the Jackson Pollock – New York school ethos where he once put the Philippines in the world map. The autonomous rounded shapes, sufficient unto themselves as shapes, are founded on uniform flat colors. The play of colors over line, of line over colors, reveals an elegiac incandescence. Joya exemplifies the artist who has assimilated Western influences and transformed them into his own individual style that still reflects the native Filipino disposition. Whatever the original stimulus, and irrespective of Joya’s ability to capture its phenomenal essence, the subjects of these pictures resonate and are imbued with personal feeling. The play of colors over line, of line over colors, reveals an ethereal transcendence of form. Whatever the sources of its inspiration, the painting is a work done at the crossroads of Jose Joya’s stylistic development. A professor and dean of the U.P. School of Fine Arts, Joya was a key member of State University’s Fine Arts panel that revamped the program’s curriculum during the 60s. In the process he attracted a following and influenced many of the younger artists.