{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1773,"auction_id":3,"set_id":4,"lot_number":"85","artist":"Ang Kiukok (1931 - 2005)","title":"Still Life with Pitcher","starting_price":1800000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2000 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"24\" x 22 1/2\" (61 cm x 57 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A DISTINGUISHED COUPLE","coa":null,"provenance":"Finale Art File, Makati City","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"In the book Kiukok: Deconstructing Despair, Alfredo Roces writes that “of the modernists, [Ang] Kiukok has worked the still life to the fullest.” Roces continues:\n“Starting from linear forms in austere grey and brown on a textured surface, over decades Ang Kiukok took his series on “crates” to more complex and bright-colored cubistic groupings of tabletops containing a potted plant, or some fruits, or bottles. The lines and planes perform a dance of spatial illusion.”
\nBefore Ang became the revered modernist that he came to be, he was first known as the son of Chinese immigrants who owned a sari-sari store in Davao. There, the Kiukok family sold various goods, including abaca, dry goods, and grocery items. By the late 1930s, the family business expanded, operating three stores, one in the city and two in a neighboring town.”
\n“We lived by the beach,” Kiukok shares, “and my father would buy abaca and coconut to take to the pier in Davao City. He was a trader, so he would bring back canned goods and rice to sell to the outlying areas.”
\nIt was this exposure to a manifold of produce where Ang acquired his mastery of the still life, breathing diverse characters, expressions, and (often muted) emotions.
In this piece, Ang presents a simple yet delectable feast. Here we can see an assemblage of fruits—ripe mangoes placed in a bowl and a guava, a slice of fresh watermelon, and a hand of bananas distributed in different parts of the table. A pitcher filled with water stands prominently. With the vibrancy of the composition, one can palpably relish the enticing and palatable sweetness of the fruits.
\nAng’s still lifes are orderly, yet they have a subtle and delicate hint of expressionism. The artist explores and dissects the essence of the subjects by rendering them in his signature Cubist language. The subjects appear like puzzle pieces fastened to form an integral whole. This is particularly evident in the table, in which the crispness of the colors and starkness of lines employed by the artist lend spatial illusions and a diversity of expressions. Moreover, Ang’s planar and spatial acuity is discerned. Composition is flattened, distortion is employed, and intense colors are applied, emphasizing the subjects’ essence rather than its materiality. Perception is what Ang aims to underscore. (A.M.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Ang Kiukok (1931 - 2005) Still Life with Pitcher signed and dated 2000 (lower right) oil on canvas 24\" x 22 1/2\" (61 cm x 57 cm)