Artist:
Joven Mansit (b. 1983)

Title:
Concepcion

Signed & Dated:
signed and dated 2008 (lower right)

Medium:
oil on canvas

Measurements:
56” x 36” (142 cm x 91 cm)

Write Up:
Contemporary artist Joven Mansit’s artistic preoccupations include evoking
new meanings as he both affirms and negates familiar historical images
through reimaging and adding humorous, ironic, or irreverent elements in his
works. Philippine history books and archives serve as his resource materials
for recreating old photographs in which he also injects his own visual
manipulations, usually suggestive of nationalistic observations. He reconnects
Filipinos to Philippine history in this attention-grabbing piece featuring a 19th
century Filipina with a 16th-century expedition ship atop her head, juxtaposed
in sepia tones. Here, he particularly captures the spirit of the Spanish era
colonialism in this recreation of an old photograph turned into a large-scale
painting by rendering not just the subject and the manipulated image of the
ship, but also down to its folds and discoloration qualities. The woman’s off
shoulder upper clothing is a fascinating notable feature and a contemporary
take on the Filipiniana clothes of the said period.