Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot

ABOUT THE WORK

An eye for the arts runs in the family of Ferdinand Cacnio. Son of another artist, Cacnio followed in the footsteps of his father Angel Cacnio. “I was surrounded by so many artists. Their community gave me an informal training at an early age,” he once said. His medium of choice is metal and he expertly manipulates the material with an ease that showcases his talent. In Masaganang Ani, Cacnio welds brass and copper to masterfully a fisherman reeling in his bountiful haul for the day. He uses glass to depict the seas, its reflective quality acting like the ocean as it mirrors the boat and the fisherman back to the surface. Through his fishermen, Cacnio tells the story of the masses, a story close to his heart as one of his grandfathers Flavio Cacnio is a fisherman. Small yet stable, his fishermen sculptures echo the standing of the fisherfolk in the country – despite their importance, they are hardly acknowledged and even less so appreciated. And yet, here, Cacnio immortalizes their struggles and victories, reminding us that, just like the strength of the metals he used for this sculpture, these fishermen remain unbowed and unbroken in their unending plight. (Hannah Valiente)