ABOUT THE WORK

Angelito Antonio, one of the more renowned Filipino artists who paint genre scenes with a modernist flair, is renowned for his classic Cubist- inflected common folk such as cockfighters, street vendors, mother and child, and the family. Heavily influenced by his mentor, National Artist Vicente Manansala, Antonio’s works are chromatic masterpieces with angular and calculated renditions of subjects and scenes. The tension between figuration and abstraction in his pieces leads viewers into taking a closer look into his distinct aesthetic disposition. This work shows his assured lines, strokes, use of color, and unique approach toward figurative distortion as seen in his depiction of a pair of common-folk. Always committed to dynamic expression, it is only fitting to consider Antonio as one of the notable pillars of Philippine modern art.