Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale Hong Kong Sunday, November 25, 2018 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Rossi & Rossi, London
    Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010

  • Exhibited

    London, Rossi & Rossi, Stories of Dreams and Realities, 10 June - 23 July 2011, pp. 19-21 (illustrated)
    Singapore, ARNDT, Land, Landscape, and Utopia, 29 March - 13 May 2017

  • Catalogue Essay

    Years of travel, research and engagement in the Southeast Asian art scene have enabled this collecting couple to amass a rich collection of contemporary art by of some of the most prominent and promising artists practicing in Indonesia, Phillipines, Singapore and Cambodia today. Featured across several auction seasons at Phillips Hong Kong, this collection provides a visual overview of the bourgeoning art practices in the region, a category of art that is otherwise difficult to fully capture due to its ethnic, religious, social and cultural diversity.

    Seeking to reinvent the language of the past, contemporary artists of Southeast Asia attempt to break free from the boundaries of their respective art histories. In the example of Filipino artist Jigger Cruz’s work, he reworks the stylistic characteristics and formal concerns of classical painting, resulting in works that seemingly explode beyond the constraints of their canvases. Indonesian artists Entang Wiharso and Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo, and Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich seek to answer the question of re-invention through their signature use of medium. While Entang’s distinctive use of metals in his relief-form works alludes to the skilled craftsmanship characteristic of traditional art forms, Sopheap works with local materials such as bamboo, rattan, burlap and earth pigments to produce abstract geometric structures. Both artists address the nature of art-making as well as current socio-political issues or history of their nation. Arin embraces new technologies with innovative use of industrial methods such as pigmented resin to create works in the aesthetic heroism of Abstract Expressionism.

    Filipino artists Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan, and Marina Cruz have continually explored the valued continuum that proceeds from a sense of community. As an artist couple, the Aquilizans demonstrate an instinct for collecting, mended by a sense of belonging, whilst Marina Cruz’s painted dresses highlight close family ties among succeeding generations. Through these paintings, Southeast Asian artists embrace the intimate within the collective, whether kin or nation, a rare aspect in a world of globalising technologies.

    New global perspectives and inspirations have allowed Southeast artists to highlight their conceptual beliefs in art-making, such as Maria Taniguchi, who concentrates on the materiality of art itself, often resulting in massive pieces with no discernable subject matter; that highlights the indistinguishable processes between painted images or constructed objects.

    Contemporary Southeast Asian artists have succeeded in not only reacting to creative stimuli, but also as a whole have become invested in creating their own sources of vitality. These artists create distinctive artistic languages founded upon tradition and cultural identities unique to each nation, while maintaining the very social tissue that evolves to strengthen the ecosystem of the region.

Property from an Important Contemporary Southeast Asian Collection

53

Landscape Painting 2 (s2370)

2010
oil on canvas, picture frames
184.6 x 189.2 cm. (72 5/8 x 74 1/2 in.)
Executed in 2010.

Estimate
HK$80,000 - 150,000 
€9,000-16,900
$10,300-19,200

Sold for HK$100,000

Contact Specialist
Jonathan Crockett
Deputy Chairman, Asia and Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Asia
+852 2318 2023

Isaure de Viel Castel
Head of Department
+852 2318 2011

Charlotte Raybaud
Specialist, Head of Day Sale
+852 2318 2026

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale

Hong Kong Auction 26 November 2018