Oil on canvas

152×122 cm. 59 7/8×48 in.

Signed in English and dated on bottom left
PROVENANCE
27 Nov 2011, Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 1482
Important Private Collection, Indonesia
27 Nov 2016, Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 215
Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above

Self-Exploration in the Clash of Multiple Cultures
Ventura's Allegory Contemporary

"I try to do something that is inviting to draw the viewer in. But if you look carefully, you can see something behind. You must look closer to the painting."
——Ventura

Ventura, a leading figure in Southeast Asian art, grew up in the Philippines and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Santo Tomas in 1993. He excels at merging advertisements or cartoon images from pop culture and real-life scenes with graffiti elements. Drawing inspiration from history, culture, religion and popular comics and novels, he creates works that are beyond the imagination of the common man. The rich, multi-layered nature of his works also points to the Philippines' history of multiple colonisations, the complex psyche of self and social identification, as well as issues such as consumerism, giving his works profound depth.

Since becoming an independent artist, Ventura has won numerous prestigious awards, such as the Artist of the Year prize at Art Manila in 2001 and the Ateneo Art Gallery Studio Residency Grant in 2005. His works have been featured in renowned media platforms such as The New York Times and Vogue. He has held solo exhibitions at institutions including the New Art Museum Singapore, the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Represented by the Whitestone Gallery, his works have built a large collector base over the years. In autumn, 2024, his work State of Bloom sold for 36.675 million HKD, setting a new record for the highest auction price of Southeast Asian contemporary art. Spellbound, completed in 2010 and featured in this spring auction with a well-documented provenance, showcases his iconic artistic language and strong personal style. The work has been treasured by an important private collector in Asia for nearly a decade before reappearing on the auction market, making it exceptionally rare.

A Flowing Map of Psychedelia, The Journey of Self Re-exploration

Spellbound employs metaphors woven with dark humour, combining Philippine history with characters from Disney animated films to create a highly dramatic narrative. Against a purple and grey background, Ventura's realistic portrayal of a nude woman wearing a plastic bag on her head with the word "Cinderella" is a metaphor for the political spies during World War II who sold information about local guerrilla forces to invading enemies and dared not to show their true colours. Situating the dazzling, fluid figure amidst a background of flat paint, he deconstructs the grave and brutal reality of history into images of Cinderella. For instance, the golden pumpkin carriage and the tall horse in front of the nude woman echo the romantic scene of Cinderella meeting her prince. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the scene of Cinderella dancing with the prince on the right side of the plastic bag transforms into the greedy face of a monster. A beautiful Southeast Asian woman on a water buffalo poses to a photographer whose attire resembles Japanese military uniforms, which serves as a critique of exoticism and consumerism. In the lower middle section of the painting, one notices the demonised members of the Mickey Mouse family, showcasing a critique of the perfectly idealised fairy-tale world and contemplating the brainwashing of American cultural hegemony. With meticulous brushwork and magical, cinematic images, Ventura bridges the past with the present, the fictional with the real. The work prompts the viewer to ponder the pursuit of self-identity, national identity and true meaning in this age of information overload, offering profound intellectual depth.

Price estimate:
HKD 320,000 – 450,000
USD 41,000 – 57,700