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Lot Essay
Young painter Leslie de Chavez has been hailed as an outstanding talent for his visually striking canvases which critique and satirize society, politics or the everyday banal. De Chavez's witty, dry humor takes the form of strongly narrative paintings, which may appear grim or morbid upon first viewing, but humorously unravel to reveal a cast of comical characters, non-sequitur motifs, and an engagingly dissonant blend of objects against circumstances.
The Medium is the Message (Lot 434) was initially exhibited in de Chavez's Zurich exhibition, Banana Republic, whose title alone provides keen insight to the artist's concerns and brand of satire. The sociopolitical term 'banana republic' was originally coined by American writer O. Henry to describe the fictional "Republic of Anchuria" his short stories treatise Cabbages and Kings, inspired by his experience in Honduras. In the present-day vernacular, a banana republic means a politically unstable country whose economy is largely dependent on the export of a single limited-resource product, such as bananas. In de Chavez's native Philippines, the severe political unrest for most of the 20th century led to the term being loosely applied on occasion by pundits, despite not entirely fulfilling all the criteria of a true banana republic. The natural humorous turn of the term is not lost on de Chavez in the slightest as, of course, the Philippines is indeed one of the world's largest producer of bananas.
Within The Medium is the Message, de Chavez attempts to draw attention toward the human rights inequality and undesirable aspects of his country. The scene appears to take place in a war-torn situation, with a man sitting ankle deep in water interacting with a small child while a photographer hovers behind. A helicopter and ladder can be seen in the background, yet the man seems in no hurry to escape the wasteland. Using metaphors such as fish bones to symbolize a country picked clean, and the basket of bananas, which are cheap produce but indicative of the livelihood of thousands, de Chavez is unsparing in criticizing the present state of affairs. The lurking photographer represents the numerous spectators who gawk at corruption and inequality, yet do nothing to remedy the situation. To the artist, the medium is indeed the message - that one is only as good as one's deeds, and it is the form of how sentiments are translated which truly matters.
The Medium is the Message (Lot 434) was initially exhibited in de Chavez's Zurich exhibition, Banana Republic, whose title alone provides keen insight to the artist's concerns and brand of satire. The sociopolitical term 'banana republic' was originally coined by American writer O. Henry to describe the fictional "Republic of Anchuria" his short stories treatise Cabbages and Kings, inspired by his experience in Honduras. In the present-day vernacular, a banana republic means a politically unstable country whose economy is largely dependent on the export of a single limited-resource product, such as bananas. In de Chavez's native Philippines, the severe political unrest for most of the 20th century led to the term being loosely applied on occasion by pundits, despite not entirely fulfilling all the criteria of a true banana republic. The natural humorous turn of the term is not lost on de Chavez in the slightest as, of course, the Philippines is indeed one of the world's largest producer of bananas.
Within The Medium is the Message, de Chavez attempts to draw attention toward the human rights inequality and undesirable aspects of his country. The scene appears to take place in a war-torn situation, with a man sitting ankle deep in water interacting with a small child while a photographer hovers behind. A helicopter and ladder can be seen in the background, yet the man seems in no hurry to escape the wasteland. Using metaphors such as fish bones to symbolize a country picked clean, and the basket of bananas, which are cheap produce but indicative of the livelihood of thousands, de Chavez is unsparing in criticizing the present state of affairs. The lurking photographer represents the numerous spectators who gawk at corruption and inequality, yet do nothing to remedy the situation. To the artist, the medium is indeed the message - that one is only as good as one's deeds, and it is the form of how sentiments are translated which truly matters.