Objets d'art
dated 2022
oil on canvas
48" x 60" (122 cm x 152 cm)




Much of the works of contemporary artist Joseph Tecson dealing with portraits subvert the said art form to uncover, introduce, and criticize tangible and perceivable forms of marked societal contrasts and contradictions through his explicit use of subjects and themes. Pervaded with an uncanny atmosphere, Tecson aims to question dominant social discourses, inciting his viewers to question their own preconceived knowledge, views, and biases regarding their society. In this piece, Tecson depicts a scene that is seemingly taken from Lauren Greenfield’s 2019 documentary film ‘The Kingmaker.’ Here, a sinister woman dressed in a red Filipiniana gown holds what is likely a gold bar. She is depicted standing in her extravagant living room discernible in its Victorian-inspired furnishings and lavish paintings. Thick impastos blur her face. Tecson’s powerful distortion of the subject lends expressiveness in providing a compelling commentary of that particular person’s true character that unequivocally contrasts with her socially perceived nature. Layers of impastos permeate the entirety of the composition, imbuing the piece with a palpable sense of a potent visual allegory alluding to the rampant denial and twisting of longproven gospel truths. Tecson is a self-taught artist who learned to paint during his four-year incarceration starting in 2008 and was finally acquitted in 2012. He has mounted exhibitions in leading Philippine galleries, such as 1335 Mabini, West Gallery, Light and Space Contemporary (which his brother, Jason, founded in 2010), Artinformal, and Manila Contemporary. In 2014, he was selected as one of the resident artists of WhiteSpaceBlackBox in Switzerland, where he held his exhibition Inmates + Outmates, which showcased portraits of inmates. (A.M.)