{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":59317,"auction_id":180,"set_id":214,"lot_number":"352","artist":"Mideo Cruz (b. 1973)","title":"Bird to Pray (Ibong Dalangin)","starting_price":30000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2011 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"54” x 36 (137 cm x 91 cm)","property":"PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED LADY","coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"This work reflects Cruz’s long-standing engagement with conceptual figuration, symbolic erasure, and sociopolitical critique. The painting presents a formally dressed male figure rendered in a cool, restrained palette, his identity deliberately obscured by an empty ornamental frame in place of a face. This strategy of withholding individuality transforms the figure into an emblem—less a portrait than a surrogate for authority, history, or institutional power. The repetitive wallpaper-like backdrop flattens pictorial space and evokes both domestic décor and theatrical staging, while the bird poised above the oval frame introduces a note of devotion and irony, oscillating between prayer, surveillance, and allegory. This strategy of withholding individuality transforms the figure into an emblem—less a portrait than a surrogate for authority, history, or institutional power. The repetitive wallpaper-like backdrop flattens pictorial space and evokes both domestic décor and theatrical staging, while the bird poised above the oval frame introduces a note of devotion and irony, oscillating between prayer, surveillance, and allegory. Cruz, a Manila-based artist trained in painting, has consistently worked across media while grounding his practice in conceptually driven image-making shaped by early involvement in youth and activist art collectives. Emerging from a background that fused studio discipline with political engagement, his work developed a critical visual language attentive to symbolism, absence, and the tension between surface and meaning. Since the early 2000s, his contributions to Philippine contemporary art have been widely recognized through major national awards, situating him among a generation of artists who blend historical reference, social commentary, and iconographic play.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":30000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":30000,"userBid":0,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":13072,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":36048,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":64792,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/180/214/lot/352.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[25000,30000,35000,40000,45000,50000,55000,60000,70000,80000,90000,100000,110000,120000,130000,140000,150000,160000,170000,180000,190000,200000,220000,240000,260000,280000,300000,320000,340000,360000,380000,400000,450000,500000,550000,600000,650000,700000,750000,800000,900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":351,"next":353,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}