Provenance: Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist

ABOUT THE WORK

The appeal of Paris to Filipino artists is not a new observation. Some sojourned frequently and some even made it their home. Nena Saguil, in particular, is one of the celebrated artists in the Philippines who lived and worked in Paris since the mid-Fifties, for more than half of her life. Here, she further enlightened herself through further studies and lived as a prolific artist, exhibiting her works in galleries. Saguil’s works are captivating results of using abstraction as her medium to reveal the search for personal clarity and freedom gained through her distinct individual style often noted as philosophical in approach. Though into the essence of spirituality as a religious person, she did not steer away from modernism. One gets the sense of internal ordering and upward, expansive movement upon encountering her abstract and surrealist works. The focus on space, both internal and larger-than-life, is also one of her artistic preoccupations, as shown by this untitled painting rendered in red with light hints and touches of yellow and white that reveal the expanse and the centering of the internal.