Antonio Leaño (b. 1963)
Beguiled
signed and dated 2017 (lower center)
acrylic and pigment ink on canvas
60" x 36" (152 cm x 91 cm)


Accompanied by a certificate issued by Pinto Art Museumand signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot

EXHIBITEDAyala Museum ArtistSpace, Descendants of Eden,Makati City, March 23 - April 5, 2017


Continuing from his 2016 series, East of Eden comes another intriguing body of work from Antonio Catral Leaño—Descendants of Eden. As with the preceding series, Leaño employs what he described as a "digital collage." He showcases appropriated old photographs, maps, and scientific illustrations that delve deep into questions concerning our origins, identity, and the contradictions between good and evil This piece titled Beguiled forms part of the Descendants of Eden series. It depicts a photograph of a turn-of-the-century Filipina garbed in the traditional Maria Clara. A scientific illustration of the human brain envelops the topmost part of her head. Renderings of leaves and branches of what seem to be representations of the biblical 'Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil' are superimposed on the woman's image. For Leaño, the tree acts as a symbolic device alluding to the human brain and the power of free will, and the moral responsibility that comes with it. The artist argues: "The only thing in this world that can discern good and evil is the brain." Leaño also injects the sacred into the work. As descendants of the biblical first man and woman, we are bound to be perpetually confined to an inherent struggle between good and evil. We are intrigued by the woman's solemn gaze as if she were pondering this relentless conflict. Through this piece, Leaño invites us to reflect on this contradiction that defines our very existence; that the struggle to do good and avoid evil is perpetually arduous yet necessary for all of us to become truly human. Art critic Carlomar Arcangel Daoana said: "For Leaño, as descendants of Eden, we are inherently migratory, spreading across the four corners of the world, carrying our cargo of inheritance. This cargo is something we bear on the cellular level: the notion of good and evil, the impulse to create as well as destroy." (A.M.)