Ang Kiu Kok

ANG KIU KOK (Filipino, 1931-2005) Still Life with Fruit signed and dated 'Kiu Kok 67' (lower right); inscribed 'STILL LIFE OIL 1966' (on the reverse) oil on canvas 85 x 85 cm. (33 x 33 in.) Painted in 1967 Christie's Hong Kong, 28 April 2002, Lot 49 Acquired from the above by the present owner Private Collection, Texas, USA Within Southeast Asia, the Philippines in particular have a very strong tradition of Cubism-influenced modernist painting in the mid-20th century. Some of its top exponents include Vicente Manansala and Anita Magsaysay-Ho who can be considered the forefront pioneers of modernism. However the next generation of artists coming to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Ang Kiu Kok, Jose Joya, Arturo Luz, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz and Romeo Tabuena among others are also highly critical in the development of the modernist visual aesthetic as we know it today. Ang Kiu Kok, after Vicente Manansala, can be considered as the most expressive and complex Cubism-influenced Philippine artist, and in fact he was mentored by Manansala in his formative years. His works range from bold still lifes to landscapes to figures of Christ on the Cross with remarkable emotional depth despite their modernist technique. Displaying a highly unique compositional style which bears certain similarities to George Braque or non-figurative works by Fernand Leger, Ang was frequently invited to show overseas in the later part of his career. Still Life with Fruit (Lot 212) is a superb example of his tightly composed still lifes with bright color blocks of blues, reds and yellows, against a black background plane. His Cubist style is strongly in evidence and, from the relatively early date of 1967, still reveals traces of his direct influence from Vicente Manansala. However the placement of the fruit on the plates and the shadings of white and black to enable a certain sense of contouring, despite the flatness of the cubism, are characteristic of Ang, and continue to persist in later works despite his eventual cultivation of a more relaxed aesthetic as opposed to the formalist mode of the 1960s and early 1970s. In the Drawing Room (Tres Marias) (Lot 213) is part of Federico Aguilar Alcuaz's acclaimed Tres Marias (Three Maidens) series. Depicting an idealized triumvirate of young girls, often clad in elaborate Spanish-style gowns, the Tres Marias paintings represent a romantic, softer side to Alcuaz's oeuvre, in comparison to his other strictly modernist still lifes and landscapes. Often taking place in drawing rooms or boudoirs, the world of the Tres Marias generally tends to be a feminine domain. However in In the Drawing Room, a male figure is unusually present, lending a touch of relaxed, urban masculinity to the scene, while one of the girls is only visible from her reflection in the mirror. The entire scene is charmingly and intimately presented, supposedly in a drawing room of the Manila Hotel, a Spanish colonial hotel and celebrated spot for social figures, politicians, artists and entertainers to gather. Romeo Tabuena is best known for his depictions of local landscapes such as farms, carabao, nipa huts in oil and watercolor formats. Often rendered in jewel-toned colors and interlocking cubist-influenced shapes, his earlier works maintain a sense of translucency and fluid form while those from his later "Mexican" period are more opaque and have a stylized "blocky" quality which brings to mind the abstract works of another counterpart, H R Ocampo and the aesthetic of Mexican muralists. Hilltown Beat (Man Smoking a Cigar) (lot 214) is a particularly engaging example of Tabuena's later style, skillfully composed and executed despite its apparent simplicity. Depicting a man in a sombrero smoking a cigar, it expresses a lively joie de vivre.

ANG KIU KOK (The Philippines 1931-2005) Dried Fish signed and dated 'Kiukok 63' (lower right); signed and titled 'AngKiu Kok, Dried Fish' (on the reverse) oil on canvas 22 x 26 in. (56 x 66 cm.) Provenance Gift from the artist to the owner. Thence by descent to the present owner. Literature World Today, Hong Kong, 1963, Cover page (illustrated incolor)

ANG KIU KOK (The Philippines 1931-2005) Still life with red cloth signed and dated 'Kiukok 92' (upper left) oil on canvas 35 x 40 1/8 in. (89 x 102 cm.) Literature Alfredo Roces, Kiukok, Deconstructing Despair, The Philippines, Finale Art Gallery publication, 2000, plate number 161 (illustrated in colour).

LOT 63 ANG KIU KOK (B. 1931) ROOSTERSGD 15,000—20,000 SGD Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 18,000 SGD MEASUREMENTS 72 by 47cm.; 28¼ by 18½in. DESCRIPTION Signed and dated '66 upper left Tempera on paper Literature Alfredo Roces, Kiukok, Deconstructing Despair, Finale Art Gallery publication, 2000, page 192, illustrated, colourplate 359

ANG KIU KOK (b. The Philippines 1931) Thinking man series signed and dated 'kiukok, 77' (upper left) oil on canvas laid down on board 32 x 24 in. (81 x 61 cm.) Literature Juan T. Gatbonton, Jeannie E. Javelosa & Lourdes Ruth R. Roa edit., Art Philippines, The Crucible Workshop, 1992, p. 208 (illustrated.). Lot Notes "Kiukok's first trip to the United States in 1965 proved to be a profound experience for him. He saw at close quarters the materialism of a highly industralised society which turns human beings into machines or robots - a society which alienates and dehumanizes. Viewing Picasso's Guernica at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in which the violence of the Spanish Civil War is graphically captured, was a kind of catharsis for Kiukok." (Juan T. Gatbonton, Jeannie E. Javelosa & Lourdes Ruth R. Roa edit, Art Philippines, The Crucible Workshop, 1992, p. 209.) Upon his return to the Philippines, the artist began working on a diversity of forms that are mingled with strong emotions. " androids and robots, boxed-in human figures reduced to skeletal forms; household pets like dogs, cats and roosters turned feral and menacing." As critics observed "Suddenly Kiukok's images erupted into forceful expressions of anger, frustration and anguish, at times touched with macabre humour." (Ibid.) Dated almost 10 years after the trip, the present lot explores the same themes as mentioned above by the artist. The sense of 'entrapment' is accentuated with the architectonic quality of the forms as well as the somber colour scheme.