Angelito Antonio’s masterpieces always manifest his deep love for his home country. The native folks, in their everyday lives and activities, like cockfighting aficionados, vendors, fishermen, and market and barrio scenes, always adorned his canvases. Throughout his career, he developed his own style of cubism with the fragmentation of forms and a palette of strong primary or muted tertiary colors, which would become a distinction of his works from those of other artists. Antonio’s Taga-baryo, just like any of his work, is inherently Filipino. An ordinary barrio scene with five people doing varied but connected activities is shown in this image: harvesting chicken eggs from the coop and men immersed in a discussion about cockfighting. This 1982 work bears his signature artistic style and vibrant colors, shadowed by blacks to create depth. He also used this palette to outline his figures and separate them from each other. Antonio’s careful and clever utilization of lines and colors demonstrates his mastery of his craft, cementing his respectable position in Philippine modernism. (Jessica Magno)