Arturo Luz (1926 - 2021)
Objects From the Past
signed (lower left)
dated 2003
acrylic on canvas

24" x 48" (61 cm x 122 cm)
Accompanied by a certificate issued by Ms. Luisa Luz-Lansiganconfirming the authenticity of this lot
PROVENANCE:Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner



Arturo Luz’s extensive Asian travels from the late 1980s to the 1990s resulted in a body of work that captured the cultural magnificence of ancient civilizations. Continuing from his Cities of the Past series, Luz concocted his own take on the still life theme—the Objects from the Past, using his trademark geometric visual language. In this piece, Luz depicts three containers representing the kendi, a pouring and drinking vessel commonly used in Southeast Asia. The kendi in this work is reminiscent of the receptacle associated with the Majapahit Empire. This Javanese Hindu maritime empire existed from 1293 to 1550. Regarding his inspiration for the kendi, Luz recounted: “In one of my trips to Indonesia, I bought these objects from Java, where an enormous amount of terra cotta was produced from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.” Arranged in threes, they form what Luz referred to as a ‘peoplescape.’ Despite their austerity in detail, Luz manages to render each bottle uniquely. Luz evokes his calculated geometric lines to put a contrasting effect, thus effectively displaying his mastery of linear forms. Luz employs the color ochre, in addition to his trademark black and white. The artist introduced ochre around the mid-1990s. “It’s actually raw sienna. But I see it as ochre,” Luz says. Using the same approach he did with his still life paintings from the 1950s to the 1960s, the objects are placed on top of simple box-like structures. They are positioned in a calculated arrangement that exudes harmonious spatial and perceptual relations. It can be noticed that Luz depicts the boxes as incomplete structures. He attributes this to a deliberate withdrawal of pictorial integrity, stripping down the subject of its defining characteristics and distilling it to its essence. “Many of my boxes are missing one side. It would be dull if they were correctly drawn. I want the viewer to be a little puzzled by it. I am not interested in the physical appearance of things, but rather in the nature of the thing,” Luz said. (A.M.)