작품 상세

Kinseng Suka signed and dated 1975 (lower right) oil on canvas 30" x 30" (76 cm x 76 cm)   Accompanied by a certificate issued by Ms. Gisella Olmedo-Araneta confirming the authenticity of this lot   LITERATURE Rodriguez-Olmedo, Bettina. Onib & Me. Makati City: Leon Gallery Fine Art and Antiques, 2024. Photograph of Olmedo with the artwork reproduced on page 34 and photograph from the exhibition featuring the artwork reproduced on page 35.   EXHIBITED Galerie Bleu, Kinseng Suka, Rustan's, Makati City, 21 May - 9 June 1975   Just four years after his first one-man show at the Solidaridad Galleries, this 1975 Onib Olmedo work had solidified the artist’s shocking style. A bold artist, he liberally employs distortions to make physical his subject’s emotional turmoil, creating works that are as unnerving as facing one’s deepest, darkest secrets come to life. This piece, though not extreme in the sense of distortions, crosses the threshold into the uncanny valley just enough to unsettle. Two men in various states of undress sat next to each other, their clothes seemingly a metaphor for their mental states – one man was dressed in a white long-sleeved polo with barely any strip of skin to be seen, while the other man sat shirtless, hands folded over his lap, and his face clearly dejected. This statement, as quoted in the artist’s monograph Onib Olmedo: Dimensions of Depth, is perhaps the best way to describe his soul portraits, saying: “[Onib Olmedo’s] portraits probe the point where physical appearance with its social conventions gives way to the spirit within which, slowly but inexorably, takes over.” (Hannah Valiente)