accompanied by a certificate issued by Finale Art File
and signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot

ABOUT THE WORK

Ang Kiukok’s body of work is described as having the elements of the Philippine Modernist School of the 1950s, wherein the canvas is composed of the interaction of hues and forms within a dense composition. One may notice that he employs the Chinese artistic approach of capturing the intrinsic nature of the subject through a meticulous and conscientious preliminary study to encapsulate its full expression as the unconstrained brush strokes are laid out on the canvas. There is a claustrophobic atmosphere in Ang Kiukok’s depiction of human despair. His human figures suffer from varied phases of agony, giving a distinct style to his treatment of the subject. In defiance of what seems to be an apparent outburst of color and chaotic forms, “the paintings draw their strength from a well-crafted, carefully-orchestrated arrangement of lines, colors, and patterns,” as mentioned by Alfredo Roces in Kiukok: Deconstructing Despair. Amid the suffocating darkness and anguish in his subject matter, Kiukok’s impulse to put harmony into dissonance is still manifested. (A.M.)