National Artist for Visual Arts (2003)
(June 3, 1931 – May 11, 1995)
Jose Joya’s art is rooted in abstraction, and like HR Ocampo, is non-figurative in nature. Joya was influenced by Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, prompting him to experiment with the role of chance and accident in his art practice, yet his works are intentional with every stroke of the brush. His paintings are usually large scale in order to accommodate his use of impasto (thick application of a pigment to a canvas) that is best viewed from afar. He developed his style (Yeseria series) characterized by shapes that look like jewels glowing from within. Over time, Joya explored how each line and shape interact to create various forms. For Joya, the act of painting is like a “spontaneous outburst of passionate emotion… an aftermath of an intense pictorial idea, like the passing of a tempest leaving behind trails of a terrible tumult… a wild attempt to depict the onrushing tempo of the present jet-age modernity”.