{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1887,"auction_id":4,"set_id":5,"lot_number":"156","artist":"Pam Yan Santos (b. 1974)","title":"Untitled","starting_price":120000,"signed_dated":null,"medium":"mixed media","size":"H: 60” x L: 21” x W:28” (152 cm x 53 cm x 71 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Art Informal, Makati City","exhibited":"Artinformal, Makes Sense, Mandaluyong City, November 27 - December 16, 2009","literature":null,"write_up":"A SEAT AT THE TABLE\nOF CONTEMPORARY ART<br /><br />How much of the self is one allowed to put in one’s \nart? The universality of themes has always been \na goal in which artist’s strive to achieve. It is the \nact of creating something universally resonant while \nmaintaining one’s own unique artistic vision. The works \nof artist Pam Yan Santos can be seen as a balancing \nact between these two perceived extremes. Her practice \npresents itself as deeply personal without being trite, and \nappearing universal without having to shed any sort of \npersonality or flair. Though Santos has experimented \nwith a number of subjects throughout her career, it is \nundoubtedly the deeply personal that speaks to us in \nbroader terms. <br /><br />\n2009 was arguably a pivotal year for Santos and her \npractice. Thematically speaking, Santos produced a \nnumber of works that centered around her own life, \nspecifically the life she shares with her husband, Jose John \nSantos III, and their son. This can be seen in pieces such as \nher mixed media piece Making a living room: Color inside \nthe line, which presents a map-like collage that implies a \ntheme of exploration or even discovery. This would prove \nto be a recurring concept throughout Santos’ artistic \ncareer. But another work from the same year (one that \nmight prove to be more connected to the work on offer) \nis her installation titled Please Handle With Care Version \n2. The found-object work, which currently resides at the \nPinto Museum, features a recreation of a living room. Its \nmultiple parts are seemingly either wrapped with or made \nout of paper that is reminiscent of packing or even caution \ntape. But a closer inspection reveals that these are in fact \nher son’s activity sheets from their sessions that seek to \nteach him the correlation between different actions and \ndifferent objects. According to Pinto Museum’s notes \non the work: “By wrapping furniture, plants and even \ncupboard items, the artist lends us the perceptual tools \nto see the world according to her son’s reality, even as she \ntries to render his private understanding of space to our \ncommonplace regard for it.” <br /><br />\n\nHere, Santos effectively creates works that posit an ethics \nof care that understands the act as nuanced as it is \nnatural. To care for everything in the same way, despite it \nsounding ideal, is arguably to act careless. Though we may \nhave standards, we must also understand that uniformity \nmay do more harm than good when done without context. \nSantos expresses through the piece one of the greatest \ndesires a parent could want for their children; the ability \nto care. To be ensured that the bluntness and harshness \nof the world does not chip away at their capacity for \nkindness and understanding. But the work arguably \ninvites another reading. Throughout the installation, we \nsee polite yet directed instructions. Though to care is to \nguide, perhaps it is not its only directive. Operating only \nthrough a strict prescriptive ethics of care may also risk \nbeing careless. To reminisce the nostalgia for childlike \nwonder is just as painful for the child that outgrew it as it \nis to the parent that no longer needs to care for the child.<br /><br /> \nThis then brings us to the work at hand. But to fully \nunderstand the work, it might be best to take a look at the \ncontext of the exhibit it belonged to. Santos’ solo exhibit \nMake Sense ran from November 27 to December 16 \n2009. The collection of works, although very much inline \nwith the style and practice of Santos, were in contrast \nwith Please Handle With Care Version 2. The paintings \nfeatured phrases and quotes from her son placed on \ntop of Santos’ collage-like paintings. The stark difference \nbeing that the phrases themselves are somehow rendered \nin an inquisitive and curious light. As if though the artist \nherself has been infected by her own son’s unique take \non the world. Aside from the paintings and other mixed \nmedia works, by the gallery’s foyer was an installation \ncomposed of seven different chairs. An installation similar \nto the aforementioned work. But instead of a living room \nwrapped in tape and paper, we see the seven chairs, each \nwith a designated papier mache balloon, arranged into a \ncircle facing outwards. Santos then invited guests to play \na round of musical chairs, with the winner bagging one of \nthe balloons. The style, treatment, and even function of \nthe chairs can be seen as emancipatory or unconstrained. \nNo rules dictate or order the care given to these chairs. \nInstead it is in the very act of using them, playing with \nthem, connecting with them that we are able to care for \nthem. For Santos, the chairs represent individuality and \nuniqueness. Specifically in terms of acceptance of one’s \nown being. <br /><br />\nThis duality between Please Handle With Care Version \n2 and More Sense can be seen as both a journey and \nprocess through self-realization. For Santos it is the \ncoming to term with the distinct character of her son. But, \nwhen viewed in the broader sense, it is a reminder that \nparenthood or guardianship is not and will never be a one \nway street. Our own sense of self and being implies that \nchildren have just as much to teach their parents as their \nparents have to teach their children. (Jed Daya)","lot_group":"FURNITURE","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":160000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":160000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":192256,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":1895,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/4/5/lot/156.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[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":155,"next":157,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}