Art aficionados now have the chance to take home priceless works of art from the collections of the art world’s greatest Filipino collectors
“When you acquire a painting from a great collector,” says Jaime Ponce de Leon, director of León Gallery, “you acquire much more than an extraordinary work of art. You get a glimpse of the mind of its owner, his thought process — and not to mention, because of his curation, the opportunity to ‘jump-start’ your own collection, so to speak.”
It’s an opportunity that comes once every year at the León Gallery, where art aficionados and patrons come together to enjoy and appreciate the best of Filipino art at the “Spectacular Mid-Year Auction.” This year, pieces from the greatest Filipino collectors take center stage, all up for auction this June 11, 2022.
Here are some of the pieces that have caught our eye at MANTLE:
Lot 21 – Emmanuel Garibay – Different Tunes
The León Gallery website describes the painting as “[an allusion] to a circus of power abuse between the two most influential parties in contemporary society: the church and the state.” It’s this critical message that resonated with MANTLE’s Design Director, who was quick to relate the piece to our current social climate.
Lot 144 Yeo Kaa – Darling, What’s wrong?
“It’s a cool neon piece with a profound commentary about what we want to do with our bodies,” our Design Director says. True enough, contemporary artist Yeo Kaa prefers exploring deep subjects, but through happy and bright color palettes. The aesthetics of the piece lend itself to humor, but the meanings and messages behind touch upon experiences that are both personal and universal, serious and light-hearted.
Lot 70 Ed Castrillo – Sentinal, Lot 5 Ed Castrillo – Relativity
These sculptures from Eduardo Castrillo, a definitive maestro in the second wave of modernist sculpture in the Philippines, are eye-catching conversation pieces. These small-scale sculptures join the artist’s oeuvre of arresting pieces, most notably the People Power monument, The Spirit of EDSA monument and Inang Bayan Monument.
Lot 35 – Pre-colonial Gold Mask from Butuan/Surigao
In the ancient goldsmithing culture of 10th to 14th century Butuan and Surigao, a pre-colonial aristocratic class decorated their deceased with paper-thin, 22-karat gold masks. This particular specimen, once belonging to Ramon Villegas, is now in the collection of Mark Caro Wilson. It has been specially mounted on a curtain of sterling silver chainmail—a definite singular auction highlight, and one that caught the eye of our Associate Editor.
Previews are open until Friday, June 10th. The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction happens on Saturday, June 11, at 2 p.m. and is co-presented by ANCX.COM, the lifestyle site of ABS-CBN. For further information, view the catalogue on www.leon-gallery.com; inquiries may be made at info@leon-gallery.com or at +632.8856.2781.
