{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":58511,"auction_id":121,"set_id":155,"lot_number":"145","artist":"Mauro Malang Santos (1928 - 2017)","title":"Mother and Child","starting_price":1800000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1967 (lower right)","medium":"acrylic on canvas","size":"17 1/4\" x 35 3/4\" (44 cm x 91 cm)","property":null,"coa":"Accompanied by a certificate issued by West Gallery confirming the \nauthenticity of this lot","provenance":"The Luz Gallery<br>\n Private collection, Manila","exhibited":"The Luz Gallery, Mauro Malang Santos: 2nd One-Man Show, Makati, 21 \nNovember - 6 December 1967","literature":"Roces, Alfredo, Mauro Malang Santos, and Eric Torres. The Art of Malang: \nCommentaries by Alfredo Roces and Eric Torres. Makati: Luz Gallery, \n1967. Published on the occasion of Malang’s exhibition, 45-Piece One\nMan Exhibit, at The Luz Gallery from November 21 to December 5, 1967. \nBlack-and-white photograph on page 14.  \n\"Gems of the East.\" The Manila Chronicle Magazine (Manila, Philippines), \nDecember 1967. Full-color illustration.","write_up":"Mauro Malang Santos’s 1967 Mother and Child is an amalgamation of his then-blossoming art career. Though he only spent a semester at the UP College of Fine Arts before dropping out, his passion and talent are indisputable, as he immediately went into the publishing industry as a cartoonist, balancing both his day job and his competitions. <br><br>From the 1950s to the early 1960s, Malang’s works have a certain cartoonist appeal to them, with thick, noticeable black outlines and an almost cutout-like quality. Although it did give way to his eventual style, an echo of that narrative humor is still retained in his works, including this lot in hand. <br><br>However, it was in 1967, the same year that this Mother and Child was created, that Malang first considered going into painting seriously. Though he was already an established cartoonist, it was only during his 1967 second one-man show (during which this painting was ) and its commercial success that the path towards painting seemed plausible. <br><br>So wildly successful was this exhibition that a Manila Bulletin article by Maria Luisa Reyes Llamado called this exhibition sold-out the very opening night. <br><br>“Malang’s works appeal to all. He has captured the Filipino soul,’ she continues. “His viewers will always find an identification of themselves in his landscapes and day to-day living [...] The local scene must be faithfully depicted, and no one has done it more delightfully, more faithfully than Malang.” <br><br>Echoing this sentiment, this Mother and Child seems to focus less on the titular pair and more on the dilapidated shanties they live in. In a work that seems more like a tapestry or a collage, this Mother and Child were nestled at the bottom right corner of the rectangular, landscape canvas; the majority of the canvas, meanwhile, is a maze like depiction of the city slums and the stacked wooden houses tittering precariously over each other. In fact, the work warrants a second look to notice the titular characters. <br><br>fHowever, that seems quintessential Malang. A Filipino artist through and through, Malang’s local pieces also imbue Filipino values within their canvases. In Mother and Child, the vastness with which the pair is nestled creates the ambiance of a tightly knit community, something that is abundant in the country. Whether it be in the province or the cities, it is impossible to ignore the bustling life that those integrated in a community live. <br><br>Those who live in the congested areas in the city even feel the physical aspect of that community, like in Mother and Child, the houses are stacked in towering, almost precariously looking buildings, one on top of the other. It is almost impossible not to feel a part of the community with everyone sharing the same, meager space. <br><br>Slum dwelling and squatting had been noted as early as the post-war 1940s, where, according to a 1968 Special Committee Report, about 93 percent of these people are migrants from rural areas. Up to this day, these areas continue to sprawl and persist, a place many call ‘home.’ Still, despite the continued risk living in the slums brings, Malang brings a sort of safety to his depiction of the Mother and Child. Rather than loom over the pair, the myriad of houses seems to envelop the duo into its arms, a protection from whatever may await them once they leave its premises. <br><br>Just like many of his works, the central figures of his paintings do not exist within a vacuum — they operate within the environs of their own community, a well-oiled machine. Amidst the busy city, Malang emphasizes the woman, her paramount role in societal development palpable even from a distance.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":3000000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":3000000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":3604800,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":63768,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/145.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":63827,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/145b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":63824,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/145a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[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":144,"next":146,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}