Lot description
Jose Joya (1931 - 1995) Angeles signed and dated 1966 (lower right) oil on panel Years after he was conferred with the prestigious title of National Artist for Visual Arts in Painting, the works of Jose Joya remain refreshingly original and unique, a proof that the prolific painter was decades ahead of his time. Though he was formally trained in the classical and traditional styles akin to Amorsolo and Luna, Joya was eventually enamored by the revolutionary works of the abstractionists and the modernists. Critics, academics, and curators alike have often claimed that Joya spearheaded the birth, interest, and development of abstract expressionism in the Philippines. Though Abstract Expressionism was not a novel concept in the art world, most of the works produced at the time were heavily influenced by Western and European schools of thought. Thus, Joya’s art was critically lauded for its refreshing take on the medium that synthesized the core tenets of abstraction and abstract expressionism, but revitalized it with local and Asian styles and techniques. His works are characterized by calligraphic gestures and linear forces that express a spontaneous vitality inherent in Oriental and Asian sensibilities. His colors are derived from the natural beauty of his surroundings, thus his works were often abstract expressionist depictions of landscapes and sceneries. In Angeles, Joya depicts the once lush and green swamps and marshlands that once dotted the fields of Angeles, Pampanga before the 1991 Pinatubo patches of its verdant greenery. Through a conglomeration of both organic and geometric shapes, the National Artist was able to evoke the complexity of the landscape, set out against the blue of a sky. The filaments that inflect the shapes point at a tangle of coarse grass, cattails, and other marshland flora, while the tapestry of blues suggests the different textures of the sky. Signed and dated in 1966, the work belongs to a coveted period, as he was translating the natural world into abstraction. Angeles is a stunning work that captures the master in the pinnacle of his artistic practice. Estimate in USD $200000-$260000
