Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

          Who knows if the two figures are dancing to Filipino folk songs while wearing  contemporary clothes? 
          Dance has a name in Philippine art: Ricarte Puruganan. Even in his early works,  Puruganan showed his penchant for dynamic composition and movement.  This is complemented by his bold strokes and heavy application of paint.  His series “Homage to the Philippine Folk Dance”, done in San Francisco, California, were inspired by an event at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.  In his book “Folk Art the Thread to National Art” Ricarte Puruganan wrote about his paintings which featured folk dances: “They are more an expression of pride in the folk dance than any pretense at representing dances in a folk arty way as I would if I were to do them again at this writing… Indeed, if the folk dance have brought to the world a parcel of the Filipino identity, may not our paintings do the same in a not too distant future?” One of the Thirteen Moderns, Puruganan since the 1960s has evolved a style which seeks to synthesize indigenous Filipino identity with contemporary themes.