BenCab's 'Young Rizal' at One East Larasati Autumn Sale

MANILA, Philippines - One East Larasati, the newly launched branch of prestigious Southeast Asian auction house Larasati Auctioneers, will hold its Autumn Sale 2010 on Nov. 27 at Hong Kong Exhibition Center. Offering 40 remarkable works with a total estimate in excess of HK$ 10 million, the Autumn Sale features exquisite and truly collectible works by masters and emerging artists. 

With a nod to Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal’s upcoming 150th birth anniversary in 2011, One East Larasati also unveils a piece from BenCab’s heretofore little-known series, commissioned for the book Indio Bravo (The Audacious Filipino).

BenCab captures this indelible snapshot in the hero’s life in the work “Teodora Alonzo Reads to her Young Son.” Deliberately using a naif style combined with simple yet powerful childlike coloration and composition, BenCab time-travels the viewer to the young Rizal’s childhood, when the young hero would embellish his first book with “rude drawings.”

Rizal finishes his description of the tale, with this: “From experience one has received bitter lessons, oh, infinitely more than the sweet lessons from one’s mother. Nevertheless, the man preserves the heart of a child and he still believes that light is the most beautiful thing there is in creation and that it is worthy for a man to sacrifice his life for it.” BenCab celebrates this realization with this work.

Daniel Komala, founder and CEO of Larasati Auctioneers, feels optimistic about the forthcoming auction. He says, “We have specially gathered the masterpieces of S. Sudjojono, Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur, Willem Hofker, Affandi, and Lee Man Fong for the forthcoming Autumn Sale, alongside the works of Filipino artists Arturo Luz and BenCab. But we’d also like to introduce many of the great emerging stars such as R.E. Hartanto and Jumaldi Alfi to the collectors, so as to continue Lasarati’s belief to support Southeast Asian art, as well as the development of local artists there.”