Jigger Cruz

The work is in good condition overall. The canvas is clear and taut. There are indications of minor wear and handling around the edges of the canvas, however, the paint layers and impastos are well-preserved. Any indications of inconsistency are inherent to the artist's creative process. Framed.
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In his work, Blares of the Opposite, Jigger Cruz explores the concept of healing, laying a riot of line and color atop Joos Van Cleve's La Morte di Virgin which Cruz saw on a trip to Germany. In the Dutch Master's work, people look on as the Virgin Mary lies on her sickbed. While Van Cleve's piece is characterized by vibrant colors that belie his somber subject matter, Cruz's rendition utilizes muted hues; his attention to detail is a fine example of his prowess beyond the abstract. The scene with the Mother of Christ is overlaid with whorls and lines—ravaging greys and off-whites contrasting with healing oranges and yellows. A vivid yellow dot partly surrounded by a white wing hangs to the right, the sun bestowing its life force, filling a ravaged being with growth and dynamism.

 

Orange and blue orbs dot the painting's upper left hand side, spewed from a yellow flask lined with red, orange, and green—the colors of heat, life, and healing. Just underneath, one can see the canopy of the Virgin's bed, the rich fabric lending the painting an air of oppressive opulence. The Mother of Christ herself can be seen through the abstract landscape; her veiled head and blanketed body surrounded by swirls of blue and white—colors traditionally associated with her divinity.

 

The artist draws on his own experiences with hypochondria, rising out of the fugue of being physically trapped by his own psyche by transcending physical borders to overcome mental states. The frame, for example, is very much part of Blares of the Opposite, the ornate wooden border carved by local craftsmen then aged by the artist himself to impart an antique feel, yet another play on the old and the new. Paint leaches from the canvass and onto the frame, an orange stream of bubbles on the lower left side with a bright blue line guiding it on top balanced on the other end by an unfinished orange sphere hovering over the end of a pink and grey loop. The half-sphere is connected to a rattle composed of different shades of green that link to the main abstraction, a lifeline that flows into a vibrant mix of auspicious reds and oranges. Paint blossoms from the bottom of the frame, a flower rippling outwards, renewed life springing forth from fertile ground, a tiny reflection of the image it forms part of.

 

It is Cruz's ability to extract the universal from the personal that makes Blares of the Opposite stand out. In his latest work, Cruz once again cements his place as one of the Philippines' leading abstract expressionists, whose canvasses are imbued with a mystical power startling and incandescent in their vision, juxtaposition, and revelation.