Universe

Jose Joya is considered the pioneer and foremost abstract expressionist painter of the Philippines. His works are “characterized by calligraphic gestures and linear forces, and a sense of color vibrancy emanating from an Oriental sensibility.”

This work is an excellent example of Joya’s style of abstract expressionism that reminds viewers of Jackson Pollack and the New York School. It features “impacted shapes, interlocking jewel-like facets that glowed from within, and at the same time reflecting the all-pervasive light”. In the words of the critic Alice Guillermo, Joya’s style “probes into emotional significations of color, with hues as terms in a vocabulary for capturing moods, nuances of feeling and inner states, while thoroughly pursuing artistic concepts, problems and values.”