{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":57490,"auction_id":116,"set_id":150,"lot_number":"68","artist":"Mauro Malang Santos (1928 - 2017)","title":"Untitled (Barong-barong)","starting_price":500000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1978 (lower right)","medium":"watercolor on paper","size":"29\" x 21\" (74 cm x 53 cm)","property":null,"coa":"León Gallery wishes to thank West Gallery for confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"Private collection, Manila","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Mauro “Malang” Santos holds a distinctive place in Philippine art—not only as a painter of luminous cubist and abstract works, but also as a pioneering cartoonist. He was the first Filipino to publish comics in English, and the first to have his work featured in foreign publications like Pageant in the United States. As a painter, Malang is remembered for works such as Three Women and Mother and Child, which early in his career radiated with bright, affectionate portrayals of Philippine life and culture. Over time, his palette and tone evolved, embracing deeper, more contemplative hues that reflected a shift toward abstraction and emotional complexity.<br><br> As Arturo Luz observed in Malang: Paintings and Drawings, his art is “a celebration of Philippine customs and rituals, observed with sympathy and insight through the symbols, rites, and fixtures of the contemporary urban environment.” His mastery lies in how his colors glow—stretching across the spectrum with bold, impassioned strokes and a deft, evocative palette. Every Malang canvas feels like a visual feast: layered, resonant, and alive, capturing the very spirit of life as if unfolding before the viewer’s eyes.<br><br> In this composition, Malang departs from his more familiar figurative scenes, embracing a subdued yet resonant abstraction. The lower half of the canvas is a patchwork of muted geometric shapes—blocks of cream, ochre, rust, and slate interspersed with pockets of bright blue and gold—evoking the texture and rhythm of a dense urban landscape. Above, a hazy cluster of soft, cloud-like forms floats against a pale sky, their blurred edges lending a sense of quiet transience. The contrast between the grounded, quilt-like solidity of the lower section and the ethereal, drifting forms above speaks to Malang’s ability to balance structure with atmosphere, suggesting both the physicality of place and the fleeting quality of memory. (Jed Daya)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":650000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":650000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":600000,"hammer_price":781040,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":61980,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/68.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":62510,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/68c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62508,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/68b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62507,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/68a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[450000,500000,550000,600000,650000,700000,750000,800000,900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":67,"next":69,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}