Moon And Sand, Pinatubo
signed and dated 1991 (lower left)
acrylic - collage
15" x 23" (38 cm x 58 cm)

Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mr. Alexander Richard JoyaBaldovino confirming the authenticity of this lot




Jose Joya takes inspiration from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in this work titled Moon and Sand, Pinatubo. Considered one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of humankind, the eruption of the then-longthought-to-be dormant volcano was also the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, only behind the 1912 eruption of Alaska’s Mount Novarupta. The aftermath of the disaster revealed once-fertile environs, particularly in Central Luzon, now covered with thick layers of lahar. More than 800 lives were taken, along with over 20,000 people that were evacuated. Of the latter, 10,00 were rendered homeless. The massive release of aerosols and dust into the stratosphere also caused a significant decrease in the global temperature of approximately 0.4 degrees Celsius. Back to the work at hand, Joya’s use of fine rice papers evoking the kiping is a practice the artist integrated into his art starting in the early 1970s. For the artist, it is an integral part of not only an intimate reconnection with his native culture but more so with nature, from which Joya had first learned how to experiment with abstraction. In doing so, Joya not only reminds the viewer of nature’s power in influencing and illuminating man’s path towards creative liberation; it is nature who possesses the most potent forces of both creation and destruction in this ever-evolving physical world. (Adrian Maranan)