Accompanied by a certificate issued by Galleria Duemila, Inc confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Galleria Duemila, Inc

ABOUT THE WORK

Lamentations, Longing, and Loneliness Onib Olmedo and the Poignancy of Human Existence 1991 finds Onib Olmedo right in the middle of rapid career-defining moments. He, along with fellow figurative expressionists Ang Kiukok and Solomon Saprid, opened the decade with an exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the first and only CCP show Onib ever embarked on. Come 1992 Onib had been awarded Honorable Mention for Concert in the Alley and The Apartment in the prestigious International Exposition de Peintres at the Château Musée de Cagnes-sur-Mer. In the middle of these events is the creation of the lot at hand. Bedroom Blues features Onib’s distinct distortion as he depicts two women in bed. They lean against each other, heads pressed together as the expanse of brown skin draws the audience’s attention to the impossible anatomy of their bodies. Their waists cinch to give way to impossibly wide hips and their breasts lay heavy against their chests. One of the women, her nose upturned and her eyes – wide and warped in how Onib usually rendered his figures – stared the viewers down. There is a sense of despair that permeates this piece, a loneliness that intertwines these bodies together. It is a story that begs to be told – who are these women and what could have possibly happened for them to end up where they are now? A proletarian sensibility is imbued in the worlds created by Onib. His contorted figures echo the unjust system with which the poor continue to get poorer. However, hope is not lost for Onib; amidst the suffering is a sense of resilience that continues to push his subjects forward. They trudge on, eyes pinned to the future when they are finally liberated from an oppressive status quo. (Hannah Valiente)