This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by Finale Art File confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

Exhibited: Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Ang Kiukok: Selected Works (1960-1990), Manila, 1991

Literature: Roces, Alfredo, KIUKOK: Deconstructing Despair, A Finale Art File, Mandaluyong, Philippines, 2000 (illustrated)

ABOUT THE WORK

As one of the enduring themes of the National Artist Ang Kiukok, Scream represents an existential cry, an assertion of defiance, a release from suffering. It is, to quote the exhibit note on his homecoming exhibition in Davao City two years ago, “a visual allegory for the age — or of any age for that matter — as long as abuse of power, disequilibrium, and injustice continue to exist in the world. Ang Kiukok’s works are enduring records of suffering and resistance, of despair and hope". What is essentially unique about this particular work is the presence of three figures set against an unbroken blue background — all of them struggling from ropes that constrict movement, with the one in the bottom having successfully freed himself from a pair of handcuffs. Works such as this are some of the most collected of the artist, a deeply existential man who saw that the role of humanity was to achieve absolute freedom.