Jojo Legaspi (b. 1959)
Untitled
signed (lower left)
charcoal on paper
44 1/2" x 38 1/2" (113 cm x 98 cm)



PROVENANCE:Private Collection, Manila



Jose “Jojo” Legaspi, whose main interests include psychology and memory, renders the human condition and the personal experience through muted colors, simple lines, and minimal background. He is also critically acclaimed for his prolific use of pastel, depicting figures in distress, repression, and isolation. His works are often described as unsettling, but the evoked existential unease is what makes these explicit visualizations resonant. Graduating with degrees in zoology and biology in the University of Sto. Tomas before taking fine arts, Legaspi’s interests range from delving on mainstream views on religion, sex, and gender identity in Philippine society. His intellectual approach to art-making is also cultivated during his childhood years; he grew up in a family of artists and thinkers. He creates art not to entertain, but to disturb—he has described himself a philosophical artist—and definitely makes people ask questions about urban realities and contemporary issues. The faces of his attention-grabbing figures are usually sallow, suggestive of a state of being in a repressive atmosphere and the need to be freed from a struggle. (J.D.)