{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1954,"auction_id":4,"set_id":5,"lot_number":"53","artist":"Florencio Concepcion (1933 - 2006)","title":"Abstract","starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1968 (lower right)","medium":"mixed media","size":"39 1/2\" x 47 1/4\" (100 cm x 120 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Private Collection, Manila","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Agreat mentor who honed the creative talents \nof Augusto Albor and Lao Lianben, Concepcion \nhailed from Tondo, Manila, and earned his \nbachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of \nthe Philippines in 1953. While in college, Concepcion \nhad already started a professional art career, being an \nillustrator for comic magazines like Action, Halakhak, \nPilipino, and Bulaklak.
\nConcepcion would expand his creative horizons and \npursue higher art studies after graduating from UP. \nHe traveled to Rome, where he enrolled at the Regge \nAccademia di Belle Arti and became a scholar under the \nauspices of the Italian government. Concepcion would \ngraduate in 1964, earning his Master of Fine Arts.
\nPrior to Concepcion’s arrival in Italy, the dominant art \nstyle was the Arte Informale, which paralleled that \nof Abstract Expressionism in the United States. Arte \nInformale, a term coined in 1950 by the French art \ncritic Michel Tapié, is characterized by intimations into \nthe inherent expressiveness of gestural abstraction \nrather than the rigidity of traditional abstraction. \nThe movement explored the endless possibilities of \nabstraction by weaving spontaneity and often using \nnon-traditional mediums and materials. This resulted \nin avant-garde works that are semiotic in form, thus \nengendering a profound dialogue between material \nand subject.
\nFrom the Arte Informale rose the Arte Povera movement \n(Italian for “poor art”), which had its prime years from \n1967 to 1972. The Arte Povera traces its roots to \nAlberto Burri, Piero Manzoni, and Lucio Fontana, who \nall reacted against consumerism in a post-war world. \nArte Povera is characterized by the use of everyday \nand/or naturally occurring materials, such as rags, \nsoil, twigs, and leaves. While Arte Informale attacked \ntraditional abstraction, Arte Povera significantly took \nit a step further, not only using unorthodox materials \nbut more so protesting the commercialization of and \nconsumerism in art (epitomized by the commercialized \ncontemporary galleries) amid a major socio-political \nand socio-economic upheaval in Italy, which coincided \nwith the global radicalization of the late 60s and 70s.
\nDuring this time, Italy suffered from economic instability \nbrought by the dominant political party of that time, the \nconservative Christian Democrats. In the decades prior, \nItaly had undergone an “economic miracle” after the \ndevastation brought about by World War II. But that \n“economic miracle,” borne from post-war capitalist \nexploitation and further richening of industrial tycoons, \nresulted in inhumane working conditions for the \nlaborers. The protests first happened in the universities, \nwith students protesting job insecurities and instability \nfor fresh graduates, and then spilled over to the \nfactories and industrial centers. Italy was in a scramble \nas it experienced high inflation rates. Yet, capitalists \nprovided low wages while laborers worked for longer \nhours. These protests gave birth to the “Hot Autumn” \nof 1969-70.
\nIt was in this militant milieu that Arte Povera was born. \nIts foremost artists included Michelangelo Pistoletto, \nwho made the quintessential work of art of Arte Povera, \nthe Venus of the Rags (1967), Jannis Kounnelis, Mario \nMerz, and Piero Gilardi.
\nFlorencio B. Concepcion, who had been residing in \nItaly, became exposed to the radicalism of this era \nand made pieces imbued with the political spirit of \nthe Arte Povera. Although we can see the traditional \noil on canvas in this untitled 1968 work, Concepcion \napplies what is likely parchment paper or wax paper, \nwhich are commonly used in baking, cooking, and food \nstorage, and places it on various parts of the canvas, \nresulting in wrinkled portions of the composition. By \nproducing a work that conforms both to Concepcion’s \nsocio-political sensibilities and artistic expressiveness, \nthe artist professes that art can be accessible to all and \ncan be made by all, and is not confined within the walls \nof commercialized galleries.
\nIn a world that has become increasingly commercialized \nand consumerist due to capitalist avarice, Arte Povera \nreinvigorated and gave a new life and message to art—\nthe “aesthetics of the ordinary.” After all, art is part and \nparcel of our shared humanity; it is both a catalyst and \na means of objection and protest against a world order \nthat is ever-changing (for the worse). (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":1200000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1200000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1441920,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":1985,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/4/5/lot/53.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[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":52,"next":54,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}