Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

Literature: Literature: Roces, Alfredo. KIUKOK: Deconstructing Despair. Finale Art File, Mandaluyong City. 2000. plate 366

ABOUT THE WORK

Like his mentor, National Artist Vicente Manansala, Ang Kiukok’s subjects of interest include fighting cocks, the typical feathered pet of the Filipino sabungero. Also a National Artist, the latter’s distorted roosters are rendered in strong strokes, lines, and forms, with features far from the usual pampered ones. Colors are vibrant and contrasting in his rooster paintings in which the animal is depicted through a multi-dimensional perspective. Art critic Alfredo Roces notes in Kiukok: Deconstructing Despair that Ang’s fighting cocks made their appearance in his works not long after his return from the United States, where he painted machine landscapes and robot faces. May it be roosters in aerial combat or one fighting cock with a commanding presence, Ang showcased his stylistic developments through this animal that caught his interest. In this 1985 Rooster piece, the fierce animal stands firm with its expressive eyes, appearing as a survivor in a harsh environment, set against a background of intense red-orange hues. The beast-like features are pronounced, from its towering wings to enlarged feet. This work is a display of his masterful fusion of Cubist, Surrealist, and Expressionist techniques that resulted in a painterly style influenced by Mexican modernist Rufino Tamayo, Pablo Picasso, and Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam but still distinctly his.