Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Jose “Jojo” Legaspi, whose main interests include psychology and memory, renders the human condition and the personal experience through muted colors, simple lines, and minimal background. He is also critically acclaimed for his prolific use of pastel, depicting figures in distress, repression, and isolation. His works are often described as unsettling, but the evoked existential unease is what makes these explicit visualizations resonant. Legaspi skillfully renders turbulence on-point, adding to the overall allure of his works. He makes a direct kind of art to bring up various experiences, concepts, and ideas without clutter and overuse of many colors. Rather, he uses monotone color schemes to portray subject matters on an existential level, resulting in works that are accessible and open for interpretation. This work with religious and psychological undertones presents a figure in dread made obvious by its hollow eyes and facial expression, holding a cross close to her face, just enough to lick its surface, seemingly symbolizing one’s desire for comfort or relief that religion or spirituality offers. The dark portrait also dramatizes inner turbulence and gives us a visual representation of the psyche. There is a sense of alienation, making one think about the existential dread in everyday life as well as how confronting emotions, experiences, and perversions, even fantasies, can help one get by