THE SHAPE OF FEELING: ABSTRACTION AT THE SPECTACULAR MID-YEAR AUCTION

When viewers chart the rise of Philippine modernism, they inevitably follow the restive itinerary of abstraction. From buoyant gesture to meditative monochrome, Filipino painters have taken non-representation as a route back to its emotional engine.

- CARLOMAR ARCANGEL DAOANA

When viewers chart the rise of Philippine modernism, they inevitably follow the restive itinerary of abstraction. From buoyant gesture to meditative monochrome, Filipino painters have taken non-representation as a route back to its emotional engine. Where Western modernists often raced toward purity, local abstraction lingers on lived experience—distilling city noise into streaks of charcoal, or the memory of a fiesta into tremulous planes of color. The reward is a refreshed perception of the world's elementary hues, silhouettes and textures.

That arc is on vivid display at the Leon Gallery's Spectacular Mid-Year Auction, which drops the gavel on June 7, 2 p.m., at Eurovilla 1 in Makati City. Marking its 15th year in business, the sale presents 166 lots, which include works that map the nation's non-figurative inheritance.

"A decade and a half have passed since we first leased that space in Corinthian Plaza and officially engaged in the dynamic business of art," recalls founder Jaime Ponce de Leon. "The rest, as they say, is history—experiences and turning points we continue to cherish."