{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":57573,"auction_id":116,"set_id":150,"lot_number":"149","artist":"Emmanuel Garibay (b. 1962)","title":"Paraiso","starting_price":1400000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1997 (lower left)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"60\" x 62 1/2\" (152 cm x 159 cm)","property":null,"coa":"León Gallery wishes to thank the artist for confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":null,"exhibited":"Steinberger Hotel, Emmanuel Garibay at Steinberger Hotel, Berlin, Germany, 1999","literature":null,"write_up":"Garibay: To the Edge of Nowhere<br><br>Emmanuel Garibay’s Paraiso continues the artist’s long list of compelling and evocative visual narratives about the world we live in. A student of arts, religion, and society, his works often revolve around the plights of the Filipino, devoid of any romantic lenses that might be used to alleviate their daily burdens. Paraiso, for once, was created just a few years after he completed his Master of Arts in Divinity at the Union Theological Seminary, and it bears the merging of Garibay’s sociological and theological understanding of society.<br><br> His Paraiso denotes a common sight to many Filipinos from the time of its conception in 1997 to today: the grueling commute. Involving a variety of people crammed inside a public utility vehicle, Paraiso shows the cramped inside of the bus, with students and the like forced to stand up holding the railings.<br><br>Garibay, who lived and worked in the concrete jungles of Metro Manila for the majority of his artistic career, is ever familiar with that kind of scenery. It follows logic that his works often feature these kinds of views. From packed public transportation to maximalist representations of the Filipino urban life, Garibay’s works were narrative in visual form, telling stories of hope and powerlessness, of corruption and progress all at once.<br><br> Rod Pattensen elaborates on this in his article entitled ‘Recognizing the Stranger: The Art of Emmanuel Garibay,’ as published in Issue 68 of the Image journal. “Largely through narrative,” he said, “[Garibay] achieves what we love to celebrate in current western postmodern practice: irony.” Indeed, if one looks closely at Paraiso, Garibay’s signature irony is evident. In a fairly rustic scene, a man’s dark blue shirt catches the eye. Sitting almost in the middle of the canvas, the print on his shirt is evident: a picture of a beach captured at sunset with the word “PARAISO” emblazoned on top of it.<br><br> However, the scene portrayed is anything but. The bus itself is packed to the brim, each passenger brushing shoulders as they crowd into each other’s space. With the air conditioning off and the windows open, the passengers are free to look at the outside, which is in complete disarray. <br><br> As houses and subdivisions continue to grow, houses become closer and more compact, thereby lessening the availability of public spaces. Roads, too, overlap, creating a concrete roof over the cities.<br><br> The passengers themselves are exhausted, their heads slumped as they find whatever time they can to rest. One woman rests her head on her arm and the seat in front of her. She holds a folded newspaper in her hands. The page is opened to the front page, which shows a picture of a brutal murder. Another cog in the machine that hinders the paradise. <br><br> Inasmuch as Paraiso is a social commentary, so too is it a theological remark. In a May 2011 interview with Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) director of communications and publications Daniel Nicolas, Garibay states that faith and politics are not warring factions in his artistic decisions but are interconnected.<br><br> “...I see more affirmation in my faith as a Christian because one of the things I realize is something very radical about Christianity,” he says in that same interview. <br><br> Paradise is referenced heavily in Christianity; Heaven is a refuge for the downtrodden in the world, with eternal peace and prosperity the prize should one endure the hardships of the Earth. Garibay’s Paraiso asks another question: why not bring heaven down on Earth? Showing a preferential option for the poor himself, Garibay’s works show solidarity with and compassion for the poor. He emphasizes the radicality of his Christianity as he places Christ within the Filipino setting, uprooting Him from the sacredness of His holiness and into the shoes of our brothers and sisters.<br><br> “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” He says in Matthew 23:40. Indeed, Garibay challenges the exploitative system and its keepers. So long as the system is in place – as long as the people in power serve to aid foreign interests instead of their own people, as long as they care more for lining their own pockets instead of serving the masses – one of Christ’s lasting testaments remains unfulfilled.<br><br> So in Nicolas’s question of ‘where is God?’, Garibay answers: “God, to me, is in situations where people are struggling to uphold or just to find meaning and dignity in their existence. God is found in people who generally struggle and who engage God seriously in a wrestling match in order to understand why they exist.” (Hannah Valiente","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":1600000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1600000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1922560,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":62061,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/149.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":62280,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/149c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62279,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/149b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62278,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/149a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":148,"next":150,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}