{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":38642,"auction_id":53,"set_id":81,"lot_number":"103","artist":"Mark Justiniani  (b.1966)","title":"Book Reader","starting_price":200000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2005 (lower right)","medium":"Oil On Canvas","size":"37” x 31” (94 cm x 79 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"In the works of Filipino surrealists, there is usually a deep level of allegory that is infused into these creations.  Implicitly hinted at by subtleties in the works, these dabs of humor or intellectual innuendos more often than not suggest of strong and deeply rooted thematic relevance.  From nationalism or classism, to sexism and what have you, significant are the metaphors laid into these pieces — creating narratives to provide context for these compositions. \nAs in this 2005 work by Mark Justiniani, one of the premiere surrealists in Philippine Art, there is a blatant colonial issue at hand in the  piece — although, such is suggested ever so lightly; as if to subliminally hide messages in plain sight. \nEvident is the difference in pigment of the two individuals that comprise the composition, hinting at the burden borne by the crouched, barefoot, brown man.  The white man atop the brown man’s back, fully clothed from his head to his feet, sits comfortably as he weighs down the already struggling bearer of his seat.  As both individuals read what appears to be the same book, they both vie to go in opposite directions — such,  suggestive of the differing interests in both parties. \nAnalogously, this puts forth the very colonial oppression felt by the Filipino everyman — as the Filipino, aged with such struggle, tries to move forward, the white man, also considerably the oppressor, intends to sway the Filipino man back to a time of despotism and repression. \nSuch compositional arrangement wittily plays with the idea of the Filipino having been the ‘White Man’s Burden’ through the period of American rule — clarifying an observed and felt reality by the artist, visually relaying his take on the matter vividly and subtly.","lot_group":"Painting","lot_details_html":"<p><strong>Mark Justiniani</strong> (b.1966)<br /><em>Book Reader</em><br />signed and dated 2005 (lower right) <br />oil on canvas<br />37&rdquo; x 31&rdquo; (94 cm x 79 cm)</p>","alias":null,"hp":1600000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1600000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1868800,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":36927,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/53/81/lot/103.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":102,"next":104,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}