Dancing across the painting with a riveting lyricism, the sensuous swatches of impastos and expressive strokes of Untitled (Abstract) exemplify the painterly finesse of Jose Joya at his most virtuosic and eloquent. Executed in 1962, at the pinnacle of Joya’s career, the present work iꦛs a𒁏 poetic example from the artist’s sought-after series of gestural oil works which embraced the core principals of Abstract Expressionism.

A renowned pioneer and prominent member of the Thirteen Moderns, Jose Joya stands 💙as one of the most celebrated figures of modern Filipino art. Joya’s unabashed ventures into abstraction and ability to convey the spirit of the natural beauty around him, distinguished the artist as a salient voice within his generation.

Born in 1931 in Manila, the artist displayed a gift for art at an early stage and graduated from the University of Philippines School of Fine Arts before he earned a scholarship to study in Madrid at the Instituto de Cultura Hispanica. He was later awarded a Fulbright-Smith Mundt scholarship which allowed him to pursue masters at the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. His time in America proved to be pivotal as he found a deep affinity with the American contemporary movements that were gaining international prominence. Seeking tꦿo ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚbring a Filipino style of abstract expressionism onto the international stage, he explored new frontiers by drawing on the fundamental ideals of action painting while mastering his own, personal practice and idioms.

Untitled (Abstract) displays with great acuity the artist’s mastery of the palette life, employed here to create the subtle tensions, complex rhythms and spontaneity within the work. Rendered in a soothing palette of deep greens, cool browns, taupe white and turquoise, the present painting offers a lively expression of the natural world. Offering a vista of simplified forms and waves of colour, Untitled (Abstract) captures the fresh innocence of spring or the rush of the sea against the sandy shores of a sun-kissed beach. Clusters of green and blue pigment gathe🎶r at the top in smaller, more concentrated undulations. Their cool tones are tempered by the mixing of browns, as well as the brightness of the larger plℱanes of white spread generously across the painting.  Sky, water and earth, seem to mesh into a whirlwind of movement and textures – at once harmonious yet forceful.

A captivating work of magnetic beauty, Untitled (Abstract) embodies the emotions and inner psyche of the artist. Each stroke, splash and swathe of colour expresses the very essence and purity of feeling that inspired Joya’s artistic process. “The kinetic quality of his art lies in the sweeping movement of the hand and art, not as in the performance of a neutral exercise, but in expressive gestures that are his alone...”^[2]

^[1] Alice G. Guillermo, Image to Mean🐠ing: Essays on Philippine Art, "Jose Joya: The Pursuit of Abstraction", Ateneo de Manila University Press, Philippines, 2001, p. 199

^[2] Ibid, p. 198