{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1747,"auction_id":3,"set_id":4,"lot_number":"59","artist":"Ramon Orlina (b. 1944)","title":"Emerald Journey","starting_price":7000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2003","medium":"carved Asahi glass","size":"13\" x 39\" x 12\" (33 cm x 99 cm x 30 cm)","property":null,"coa":"Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist\nconfirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"Acquired directly from the artist","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"The longevity of Ramon Orlina's artistic career, which spans a period of over four strong decades, is due in part to the plethora of themes from which the eminent glass sculptor turns for creative inspiration. The human body, abstract and metaphysical themes, animals, and the environment have all been featured prominently in Orlina's works.
The Mountain Series of Ramon Orlina is among the grandest and most majestic in his oeuvre of ethereal glass sculptures. It is an earnest declaration of Orlina's unwavering advocacies as an environmental activist. Thus, it is an embodiment of Orlina's character and principles.
In a 2013 interview with ANC for the program 'Green Living,' Orlina delved deep into his various ecological engagements. \"I belong to the group named 'Ramon.' We plant trees…I think right now we have maybe planted more than 300,000 trees all over the Philippines,\" Orlina shares.
\"I was also a member of the 'COCAP.' It's the 'Concerned Citizens Against Pollution.' We lobby Congress not to continue with the incinerator because these are against our Mother Earth.\"
Orlina usually employs the green color in his Mountain Series, which is the color symbolically and naturally associated with nature and the vitality of life. Such is the case with this work titled Emerald Journey. Here, the abundance and richness that nature has endowed to humanity are emphasized. But despite this life-sustaining gift of nature, humans, imbued with their selfish and greedy interests, have betrayed and been betraying nature.
In Emerald Journey, Orlina depicts holes scattered throughout the sculpture. Do they represent humanity's reckless and self-serving transgressions against our lush forests and mighty mountains? Especially in the Philippines, forest area in the country has dramatically declined, particularly in the 1960s and the 1970s, in which the logging industry greatly benefited from detrimental government policies and rampant cronyism. According to Global Forest Watch, \"from 2001 to 2021, [the] Philippines lost 1.34Mha [million hectares] of tree cover, equivalent to a 7.2% decrease in tree cover since 2000, and 784Mt of CO₂e emissions.\" Additionally, \"from 2001 to 2021, 92% of tree cover loss occurred in areas where the dominant drivers of loss resulted in deforestation.\"
But Orlina does not easily give up all his hopes that the harmonious connection between humans and nature will eventually be rekindled. Green also represents regeneration, rebirth, and renewal. There remains a sliver of hope to rebuild and reestablish the inherent balance between all life forms. We all just need to collectively partake in the struggle and embark on the emerald journey toward that elusive yet worthwhile path of conserving and restoring our natural world for succeeding generations to appreciate and relish. (A.M.)","lot_group":"SCULPTURE","lot_details_html":"
Ramon Orlina (b. 1944) Emerald Journey signed and dated 2003 carved Asahi glass 13\" x 39\" x 12\" (33 cm x 99 cm x 30 cm)