Jose Joya (1931 - 1995)
Cloud Burst
signed and dated 1981 (lower right)
acrylic on canvas
30" x 24" (76 cm x 61 cm)


Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Josefa Joya Baldovinoconfirming the authenticity of this lot




Jose Joya's works are highly figurative and conventionally representational. Indeed, he was one of few Filipino artists who combined a keen intelligence, love of country, and a modern sensuality of form that is uniquely ours. As the National Commission for Cultural and the Arts has noted of Joya, "he espoused the value of kinetic energy and spontaneity in painting which became significant artistic values in Philippine art." Joya's works clearly show his mastery of 'gestural painting,' where the paint is applied intuitively and spontaneously. As Francisco Arcellana has once said, one could see the power of abstraction, which is either only potential or false in others but becomes an actuality. This power is exemplified in this piece titled Cloud Burst, where Joya infuses vitality and improvisation. Joya reinterprets the traditional format of landscape painting, recreating an abstract pictorial realm teeming with subdued monochromatic colors accumulating in generous layers of impasto strokes and choreographed into a series of intertwining blocks resembling a billow of clouds. The featured masterpiece exemplifies Joya's working style and his inner psyche and exploration process— contemplative in considering the movement of time and its significance as the spirited and restive master of the cosmos, a symbol and measure of the past, present, and future.