{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":22349,"auction_id":25,"set_id":44,"lot_number":"89","artist":"Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) ","title":"Comic Lives (12)","starting_price":3000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2018 (lower left)","medium":"oil on canvas in wooden frame","size":"painting: 24” x 18” (61 cm x 46 cm) \nincluding frame: 48” x 42” (122 cm x 107 cm) ","property":null,"coa":"This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by the artist \nconfirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"Private collection, Makati City","exhibited":null,"literature":"Comic Lives, Whitestone Ginza New Gallery, Ginza,\nChuo-ku, Tokyo, December 14, 2018 - January 13, 2019","write_up":"Among the three Ventura brothers, Ronald Ventura’s artistic practice is often considered the most complex and layered when it comes to material and technique. His paintings blur the line between traditional, modern, and contemporary art by suffusing his works with a plethora of styles such as Hyperrealism, Surrealism, and Pop Art.
Ventura admits to loving the inherent contradictions and multiple realities, often mixing the pretty and the grim. This particular piece emphasizes his distinct juxtapositional style in terms of both content and form. On a visual level, the work is a relatively easy read. The work is divided into sections; its top portion features a faithful rendition of Alice from the film Alice in Wonderland, meanwhile its bottom part features the lower area of a girl’s portrait done in a much more classical style akin to traditional portraiture. Bisecting the two images is a solid line, giving an impression that the piece is seemingly stuck in the middle of a shared yet dissonant existence. Despite its visual immediacy and charm, the work’s curious amalgamation of form beckons a closer inspection. One such interpretation is that the work is an exploration of duality, especially in the formation of identity. Though the two main sections are undoubtedly worlds apart they share a common theme, that of childlike innocence. Thus, Ventura’s piece can be read as a metaphor for the inherent complexities of the human condition, even in its most simple manifestations.
Ventura has risen to prominence within the Asian contemporary art scene with complex, layered works that juxtapose unexpected images, and often macabre images, with scenes from everyday life.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Ronald Ventura (b. 1973) Comic Lives (12) signed and dated 2018 (lower left) oil on canvas in wooden frame painting: 24” x 18” (61 cm x 46 cm) including frame: 48” x 42” (122 cm x 107 cm)