{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":58388,"auction_id":121,"set_id":155,"lot_number":"24","artist":"Mauro Malang Santos (1928 - 2017)","title":"Barung Barong","starting_price":1800000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1968 (upper right)","medium":"acrylic on canvas","size":"19 1/4\" x 31\" (49 cm x 79 cm)","property":"PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED LADY","coa":"Accompanied by a certificate issued by West Gallery confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"A year after Mauro Malang Santos’s second oneman show at the Luz Gallery, his 1968 BarungBarong is an amalgamation of the artist’s thenblossoming art career. During his early years, his works were characterized by his illustrator background, with their thick black outlines and a cutout, almost printlike, quality.
His illustrious career as a comic artist was established decades before his painting took off, with his creation of Kosme, the Cop, Retired, the country’s first Englishlanguage daily comic strip. However, it was in his 1967 Luz Gallery show that prompted him to start doing serious painting.
In an interview with Cid Reyes published in his monograph Malang: Paintings and Drawings, he stated his process for painting his barung-barong pieces. Then working around Intramuros, Malang used to take photographs of barungbarongs.
“But I never really copied the photographs literally,” he pointed out. “All I do is copy the forms. I ad-lib a great deal.” In this 1968 Barung-barong, Malang’s print-like quality is evident, especially in the house’s wooden and iron sheet panels. His vibrant color scheme and strong sense of composition take center stage, combining elements of cubism, figuration, and abstraction in his portrayal of these shanties.
His love for portraying barung-barong is well-documented. In the same interview, he said, “I don’t believe in doing different subjects just for the sake of changing subjects. I think that you have to master one image, one form [...] Me, I never get tired of my barungbarong.”
One thing noted about Malang’s barungbarong is its relative festivity. As opposed to the depressing, dilapidated houses that relay of the country’s poverty, his pieces tell of the brighter, sunnier Philippines. Perhaps it’s his color sense, where his vivid, rich hues come to life through his intuitive vision. An ‘ad-lib,’ as he is fond of saying.
The best of Malang, from this era to the next, is perhaps best put into words by Maria Luisa Reyes Llamado in a Manila Bulletin article about his 1967 exhibition, where she said:
“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.” (Hannah Valiente)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":2200000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":2200000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":2643520,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":63650,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/24.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":64108,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/24c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":64106,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/24b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":64105,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/121/155/lot/24a.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":23,"next":25,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}