Highly coveted artworks and pieces once more grace the exquisite lots at Leon Gallery’s upcoming auction, dubbed as “The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2020” on June 20, Saturday, at 2 p.m. at the Eurovilla I ground-floor galleries at Rufino corner Legazpi Streets, Legaspi Village, Makati, Metro Manila.
Foremost among the fabulous lots is the iconic three-panel masterpiece “Goddesses,” a groundbreaking collaboration with well-respected artists Mauro Malang Santos, Ang Kiukok, and Hugo Yonzon, Jr. This astonishing work is indeed a testament to the artists’ brotherly friendship and singular world view — inhabited, of course, by the women they adore as goddesses.
Equally sought after by the most discriminating collectors are works by four of the Philippines’ foremost women artists.
Anita Magsaysay Ho, the only female among the Thirteen Moderns, offers her distinct and refreshing take on rural life with “Untitled (Barrio Scene).” Inspired by her childhood memories of summer vacations in Zambales, her spontaneous brushstrokes work perfectly with her stylized visual rhythms to capture the strength and dignity of farm folks, especially of the women, in everyday life.
In contrast to Ho’s delicate rendering of the Filipino ideal, Pacita Abad’s proto-primitivist style in “Untitled” borrows elements from pre-colonial tribal art to channel a renewed sense nationalism and resistance to status quo. Perhaps the first global Filipino female artist has produced more than 4,500 artworks in her lifetime with her influence and renown around the world.
Spanish-born Betsy Westendorp, who is a Presidential Medal of Merit awardee and cultural icon, known for the bravura of her luxuriously expressive floral paintings, showcases restraint and subtlety in her evocative memory of place. In “Kakawate Tree in Tagaytay,” she shows her other side by capturing the silence and solitude of Taal Volcano’s magnificent view in expansive blue with just the right flicker of red-orange.
Other exciting masterpieces lined up for auction include Juvenal Sanso’s “Flower Garden,” Justin Nuyda’s “Abstract Landscape,” Jason Montinola’s “Untitled and Jigger Cruz’s “Sunflower with Beer and Peanuts.”
The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2020 will be held at León Gallery on Saturday, June 20, at 2 p.m. You may view the Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2020 catalog as well as register to bid at www.leon-gallery.com.
