Lot 56: ALFREDO AQUILIZAN (b. The Philippines 1962)

ALFREDO AQUILIZAN (b. The Philippines 1962)
Twin tower
signed, titled and dated 'Aquilizan 2004/Twin towers/1' (on the reverse); signed and dated 'Aquilizan 2004/Twin towers/2' (on the reverse)
oil on mixed media
77½ x 34¼ x 7½ in. (197 x 87 x 19 cm.) each
2 (2)

The notions of home, community, family and belonging are longstanding and central themes in the work of Alfredo Aquilizan. In the multidisciplinary artist's oeuvre that ranges from installations to paintings, including key collaborations with his wife and fellow-artist, Maria Isabel Aquilizan, audiences have always been led to take up the positions and perspectives of insiders embedded within different family and community configurations. Architecture, especially huge and monumental structures draws the interest of Alfredo Aquilizan and drives his conceptual imagination to conceive of sculptures and large-scale installations that people can live in and function within.
A collaborative framework has consistently guided the Aquilizans' projects. Dream Blanket Project shown at the 2005 Busan Biennale used blankets gathered from Korean families to address the nature of collective and familial hopes, aspirations and fear. Address, one of their most recent large-scale installations, recreates a room made of 'Balikbayan' cardboard boxes used by Filipino migrants to transport personal effects home, a visual treatise on the migratory experience marked by a poetic and reflexive turn.

The present lot, Twin Towers reveals Alfredo Aquilizan's thematic and formalistic interests as seen above. Drawing reference to the ubiquitous form of the skyscraper denoted by New York City's famed World Trade Centre which is referred to as Twin Towers in common parlance, the work is an unusual and whimsical interpretation of the architecture and material effects of a particular urban community. In the cascading view of houses - some sliced in cross section to reveal living interiors - lies a certain novelty of re-presenting visually the familial and social threads binding individuals living within a community. The sheer density of urban and communal living is emphasized alongside the close proximity of denizens within such a portrayed community.