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Jeepney ‘85 signed and dated 1985 (lower right and verso) oil on canvas 46” x 34” (117 cm x 86 cm) PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner Throughout his career, Antonio Austria had consistently found himself drawn to the Filipinos and their elements. He was a student of National Artist Vicente Manansala and the maestro’s fondness for the Filipino is evident in Austria’s work. “I can identify with his jeepneys, vendors, and the Madonna of the Slums,” Austria says, as recalled by an Artes de las Filipinas article. “I like the fact that his renditions were not done in a glamorous portrayal.” Jeepney ‘85 echoes his penchant for Filipino imagery and maximalism. With a certain sense of horror vacui, Austria fills every nook and cranny of the canvas with colors and elements as he depicts the iconic jeepney and all the trinkets that fill the vehicle. Vibrant colors are used liberally, the hues almost clashing in their intensity but harmonious in their entirety. Very much in the same vein as Filipino maximalism, there is a sense of comfort embedded in the crowded canvas, banking on nostalgia and the consoling aura of the commonplace traditions one sometimes takes for granted. (Hannah Valiente)