Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

“These works were characterized by the use of color and symbolism but were all inspired by my reflections on society, the workings of ideology and lament on individual struggles” said by the social realist Jeho Bitancor in an interview done in 2010, upon commenting on his socially conscious works which is represented in the recent composition. Here, Bitancor portrays the plight of the construction workers exhausted from their brutal labor taking a break in the construction of an office place under the glow of the sweltering heat. The laborers are depicted in an array of positions around the scaffoldings, with some lounging for an afternoon rest or doing a crossword on a tabloid. On the bottom, we see two workers playing Dama, a Philippine variation of the games of checkers using thrown bottle caps or tansans as pawns in their board game. This is seen as important analogy that Bitancor has utilized by centering on the idea of pawns represented by the workers, being by utilized by an unseen corporatist leviathan ever expanding his sphere of influence through his rapid and massive redevelopment of the urban metropolis. For the artist, the laborers are more than just a means to an end in the Machiavellian sense, but also have their own human dignity and constitutional rights that must be respected and empowered.