WHO are today’s top artists in the local contemporary art market? Who are the most sought-after emerging darlings in the scene? Is the market booming locally or are we just beginning to thrive? Will we ever slump?
A most compelling set of answers to the questions above may be found in the output and career of one now making waves beyond Philippine shores. The artist known as Winner Jumalon is not only a leading name in the local contemporary art market, but he also emerges as a rising young talent in the pan-Asian scene. But where the pack advances due to rising economies, Jumalon’s streak has broken loose to achieve an arc of pronounced upward movement. In simpler terms, he races ahead of the elevation.
For third-party valuations, kindly consider the following: first, a PDF download produced by a French purveyor of the global art market, Artprice.com. In the think tank’s “Contemporary Art Market 2014: The Art Price Annual Report” (https://bit.ly/1D6h0aH) released a few months ago, the world leader in market information headquartered in Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d’Or reported on global prosperity while zeroing in on the emerging hot spot that is the Philippines. While the report bannered the name of another local artist as the top 76th among 500 of the most successful market darlings in the world, the report also mentioned movement in the developing transition from the local to a global scene. In this most crucial period of engaging the international art market, guess who’s name appeared as an emerging star to watch?
With a global spotlight centered on this wunderkind (he was born in 1983), Jumalon has been tested previously by numerous representations in both Christie’s and Sotheby’s sales.
With a total auction turnover of around $105,609 for the years 2006 to 2009, his total auction sales jumped to almost the same value for the year 2014 alone. For some, these absolute numbers may seem like peanuts, but the rate of increase is dramatic and further foretells the classic upward curve.
Born in Zamboanga in 1983, Jumalon graduated from the prestigious Philippine High School for the Arts in Los Baños, Laguna, before proceeding to earn his plums as a painting major and alumni of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. Among his laurels include a 13 Artist Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2009 and numerous finalist citations in the Philip Morris Award Asean Art Competition, the Metrobank Art Competition, and the National Shell Art Competition, as well as being named as agent provocateur in numerous critical evaluations.
Yet Jumalon’s price index maintains a semblance of relative affordability. The argument in the market is that’s only for now. Just wait till he matures into intense mastery of his powers. What’s offered now are the early works which are more sublime.
While his arc has been free of speculation since no abnormal price spikes have occurred, in the long run, maintaining a sustainable and logical increase in valuation is more welcome than the one-hit wonder.
A steady and dynamic growth rate above the normal arc is more realistic and plays perfectly with a market desire to widen ownership among discerning collectors who, in the end, act only as custodians to great works of art.
The Blouin Art Sales Index (www.blouinartinfo.com) pegs Jumalon’s average price per artwork at a little lower than $20,000 per canvas, with a maximum price of around $30,000 for an important piece. As the Gini coeffiecient or the measure of income inequality further increases and fortifies the market, expect the trends to point northwards.
On March 7 a select group of art buyers will be witness again to the strengths of the local market as Jumalon’s latest piece will be sold via live bidding through Salcedo Auction’s Important Philippine Art sale. As a worthy cause, lot BP6 will benefit Ballet Philippines. Will Jumalon’s latest work in a Manila sale beat records posted in regional secondary markets where he has found increasing demand? His collectors in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore want to know.
Now that’s speaking from an art market viewpoint. Let’s turn to aesthetics and the object.
In terms of providing a cultural artifact, I argue that he favors the homegrown market. Lot BP6, titled El Quen Ya Mira Ondura, from the Chavacano translation of “He Who Saw the Deep,” also the first line of the Epic of Gilgamesh, is a study of transgression that might not belong in a family room of the average bourgeois household. Pregnant with radical and subversive symbology derived from early pagan rites, the work celebrates anarchic freedoms before the rise of fascistic powers that sought to give a semblance of law, no matter how absurd and limiting.
In modern lingo, El Quen Ya Mira Ondura may be translated as “He who Sees the Unknown.” In the ancient poem regarded as the first work of literature predating the Torah, or the first five books of the Jewish Law, Gilgamesh the hero confronts the death of Enkindu, a former political rival turned best friend.
The disappointment at love’s untimely death leads the hero to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life. But he learns in the end that there are no secrets at all. Death will come and life will end.
Gilgamesh also encounters a period where he escapes from a great flood engulfing the earth, killing its inhabitants. The point-by-point similarity to the biblical flood has caused many to doubt the authenticity of the Jewish tradition. Is Jumalon pointing to a review of unquestioned evangelizations by fascistic powers that have made ideological apparatuses of state religion, another cause for stunted progress in these halcyon days of booming capital?
In an interview, the artist explained that the painting was a study on surface, superficiality and depth. He remarked: “At first I didn’t have a definite idea in mind what was going to happen on the canvas. But I photographed my model with the idea of fashion and surface. The end figure culminated into a diver searching for something precious. But the life which you look for, you will never find.”
In Jumalon’s work, realizations may happen when you stop looking too hard. But can you ever stop looking when the image looks back at you, looking like a tragic heroine who lives for a while then sleeps? In its epic transgressions on life, the work provides a museum-worthy piece that resonates with covert power. In the end, art itself is the only reason for life.
With a low estimate of P130,000, El Quen Ya Mira Ondura, a work in oil and encaustic on canvas measuring 137.2×152.4 centimeters (54″x60″), will benefit the numerous scholars of Ballet Philippines. Preview for Important Philippine Art is ongoing till March 6.
For more information, visit www.SalcedoAuctions.com.