{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":47367,"auction_id":95,"set_id":125,"lot_number":"113","artist":"Jose John Santos III (b. 1970)","title":"Abstract Reasoning","starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"dated 2014","medium":"epoxy relief","size":"15\" x 12\" x 15\" x 11 1/2\" (38 cm x 30 cm x 38 cm x 29 cm)
(moulds) 12\" x 9\" (30 cm x 23 cm) (casts)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"PROVENANCE Pearl Lam Galleries","exhibited":"Pearl Lam Galleries, ²hide, Co-organised by Artinformal Gallery, Singapore, November 22, 2014 - January 8, 2015","literature":"Ruoh Ling, Keong, Leo Abaya, and Kenneth Tay. ²hide. Singapore: Pearl Lam Galleries, 2014. Published to accompany the exhibition ²hide at Pearl Lam Galleries in 2014-15. Featured on the catalog's front and back covers; Full-color photograph and artwork description on page 47.","write_up":"An Evocative Jose John Santos III From a Monumental Singapore Exhibition
Abstract Reasoning was the centerpiece of Jose John Santos III’s monumental 2014 exhibition at the Pearl Lam Galleries in Singapore titled “²hide.” Pearl Lam Galleries, a leading cultural institution promoting contemporary Asian arts, described the exhibition as “a major body of new work…This new series creates a heightened awareness of everyday objects by imbuing them with expanded meaning and new associations. It is a specific, interrogatory, and novel engagement with the duality of interiority and exteriority embedded in commonplace objects.”
In 2009, Santos III departed from figuration. “²hide” was a continuing endeavor for the artist in his deeper introspection on his creative process and focusing on mundane found objects.
In that landmark show, viewers are immediately greeted by this intriguing work made of four separate slabs of epoxy relief. The term “abstract reasoning” refers to our ability to solve problems, understand complex concepts, and analyze patterns; it is profoundly related to harnessing our critical and logical thinking. When we delve into abstract reasoning and thinking, we are confronted by visuals (shapes, images, etc.) rather than words or numbers. These forms are arranged in a structured mesh of patterns and appear in an ordered progression that tickles the mind’s ability to recognize problems, find solutions, and reach a logical conclusion. Abstract reasoning is often employed in college admission exams and aptitude tests.
Santos III’s Abstract Reasoning explores the representation and recontextualization of our ability to harness our own thinking. Presented in a horizontal manner akin to an entry in an aptitude test, the work touches on our innate capability of reconfiguring and reevaluating the objects we encounter every day but we nevertheless dismiss. Like an aptitude test, does the artist encourage us to know the next answer to this seeming pattern? Does he want to ask us which comes first in this series of reliefs? Or maybe, Santos III embodies us to view the object in relation to its medium: epoxy as a versatile everyday object used as a coating or adhesive for quick and convenient household repairs.
Contextualized within the exhibition’s title “²hide,” the artist unveils the shrouded and often neglected importance of everyday objects, and how they harness our ability to solve problems and make living and breathing manageable. The artist rationalizes the ordinary and sheds light on the importance of these objects in our everyday realities and functioning. In doing so, Santos III buries the adjudged banality of these objects—the often disregarded gravitas they hold—and profoundly seeks their importance.
This harkens back to our reality, tracing the roots of our functionality and acquired intelligence and skills to the curiosities of childhood. Because where do we first gain experience and learn to navigate this topsy-turvy world? It is from everyday realities concretized in everyday objects. From the mere scribbling on papers to the profound resourcefulness and quick-wittedness acquired through using what is readily available, these objects become part and parcel of our shared reality and intelligence. In doing so, memory becomes integral to the overall artistic process of Santos III; the evocations of both the artist and his viewer are brought to the fore.
Furthermore, Abstract Reasoning embodies the exhibition’s main objective: the renewed appreciation for the “unimportant” and “trivial” and how these objects ultimately contribute to a renewed sense of living and being. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"Painting","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":0,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":0,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"UNSOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":0,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":47050,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/95/125/lot/113.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":112,"next":114,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}