Remembering Ang Kiukok: The Davao-born National Artist who painted rage into form
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 May) — Every March 1, Davao City celebrates Araw ng Dabaw with parades, concerts, pageants, and festivals that transform t…
Remembering Ang Kiukok: The Davao-born National Artist who painted rage into form
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 May) — Every March 1, Davao City celebrates Araw ng Dabaw with parades, concerts, pageants, and festivals that transform the city into a spectacle of color and movement. Yet amid the noise and celebration, few remember that one of the Philippines’ most influential modern artists — Ang Kiukok — was also born in Davao on the same day in 1931. The Fishermen by National Artist Ang Kiukok depicts three angular figures hauling in a fishing net, their bodies distorted into sharp geometric forms characteristic of the artist’s expressive cubist style. The 1981 oil-on-canvas painting sold for P65.408 million at a León Gallery auction in 2017, then setting the record for the highest price paid for a Philippine artwork at a local auction. Photo courtesy of Leon Gallery Born to a Chinese immigrant father and a Filipino mother, Ang Kiukok would grow into one of the country’s most recognizable modern painters; his paintings of distorted bodies, strained labor, hung...
