{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":3490,"auction_id":6,"set_id":8,"lot_number":"94","artist":"Santiago Bose (1949 - 2002)","title":"Metamorphosis","starting_price":600000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1988 (lower right, first panel)","medium":"mixed media on paper","size":"66\" x 23 1/2\" (168 cm x 60 cm) each","property":null,"coa":"León Gallery wishes to thank the artist's estate and Silverlens Gallery for confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"Artist's collection Hiraya Gallery, Manila","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"“When philosophy paints its grey in grey, then has a shape of \nlife grown old. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with \nthe coming of the dusk.” —G.W.F HEGEL
Santiago Bose was a celebrated Filipino artist known for his thought-provoking works that seamlessly blended indigenous cultural elements with contemporary artistic expressions. Bose's artistic journey spanned over three decades, during which he actively explored themes of identity, colonialism, spirituality, and social issues, leaving an indelible mark on the Philippine art scene.
According to Dr. Patrick Flores: “Discernible in his creative instinct is the quickness to mix materials, cite references across histories, subject his visual space to the stress and plenitude of codes, and thus render the enterprise highly mediated: dense, lively, hectic, even impish. These gestures eventually translate to palimpsest, textual inscription, collage, and later, installation. In many ways, Bose was an exemplar of the mixed-media repertoire, which may well be productively inflected as intermedia, the better to cast it as a cognate of his translocal sympathies.”
Such an approach can be seen in this quadriptych titled 1988 piece titled Metamorphosis. In line with Bose’s practice, this particular set of pieces does not only seemingly evade any sort of simple description, but categorization as well. The mixed media work showcases four pieces each seemingly depicting a body of sorts in an anatomical and almost clinical way. The pieces in question act as charts, each emphasizing a specific way of viewing not only the work, but the bodies depicted. But one might ask if these are in fact bodies. While two pieces in the work feature bodies closely resembling the human form, the other two have seemingly strayed away from conventionalism. Though one may view these as separate entities, the title of the work suggests a sort of narrative continuum. Wherein one can view the work as an evolution of man, not only in a spiritual or cultural sense, but in a biological or even cybernetic one. One can argue that the idea that Bose is trying to exemplify here is one of change. A change so fundamental and all-encompassing that bodies and beings transcend beyond the understanding of the latter. Such an idea mirrors another work of artistic and literary merit. Namely C.M. Kosemen’s All Tomorrows.
At its core, \"All Tomorrows\" is a work of speculative biology, presenting an alternative evolutionary trajectory for the planet and its inhabitants. Kosemen's meticulous attention to detail and his understanding of biological principles lend a sense of scientific plausibility to his imaginative creations. All Tomorrows\" challenges conventional notions of human exceptionalism and highlights the potential for divergent evolution to lead to the creation of entirely new forms of life and intelligence. Through the portrayal of post-human societies and their encounters with extraterrestrial civilizations, Kosemen delves into questions of identity, morality, and the nature of consciousness. His exploration of these philosophical themes invites readers to contemplate the potential consequences of our own scientific and technological advancements and raises ethical dilemmas regarding the treatment of non-human entities. Though less direct than Kosemen’s work, Bose shares with the author and illustrator both an acceptance of a divergent fate as well as a well-founded and very human fear of change.
The only constant variable in the universe is change. To accept the fact is to be aware that though each moment is interconnected, we must live with the reality that change is unknowable, and eventually as we gaze both into the future and into the past we will know nothing except the present moment. (J.D.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":1000000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1000000,"userBid":11659,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1168000,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":3693,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/94.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":3697,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/94d.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":3696,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/94c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":3695,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/94b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":3694,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/94a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"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":93,"next":95,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}