“Fishermen” is a painting by Ang Kiukok, A Filipino artist from Chinese descent and was a National Artist for Visual arts and is considered as one of the leading exponents of Philippine figurative expressionism. The painting shows people working and struggling together to catch fish. While the background adds an emphatic symbol of constancy and perpetual energy. He has made many versions of paintings showing fishermen struggling but this one was one of the most known ones. The painting means to struggle is to have hope for it exists side by side. Ang Kiukok’s painting was done in unique oil colors on a canvas mounted on wood 60.5 x 91.2 cm (23 3/4 x 36 in).
The painting symbolizes the current age we are in today. The artist was trying to show how hard it is to live like a Filipino. And that with these struggles eventually comes hope. Just like in the current situation the Philippines is in now. A lot of Young Filipino students eventually give in to the struggles of being a student and get devoured by their stress and forgetting the most important part that hope cannot be achieved without struggles. And it is hope that keeps us going.
Looking at this painting I remember the stories my father used to tell me, He told me his struggles when he was a kid like me. And how lucky I was for I didn’t encounter those same struggles he had when he was a kid. But as he said his struggles in life there was no sign of grief in his face. It was like he accepted those struggles and lived through it to tell his stories. He knew that after the struggles was hope for a new beginning. And now I have always wanted to experience what it’s like. But I know that only time will tell.
“Fishermen” is truly a painting used to describe the daily struggles of the Filipinos. It is showed in the painting how they struggle to get food for their family just to survive another day. It is seen on the painting how much the two fishermen are struggling to get their catch. For me it shows the very lives of all Filipinos. For the Philippines struggled a lot. Got colonized two times and still got its own independence later on. To struggle is to one day find hope somewhere. And now in the common era, A lot of Filipinos still struggle with food and financial problems. But most of them still strive for hope. Hope for the coming days, Hope that one day it’ll be okay. Because in every problem there is always a solution.
Ang Kiukok’s paintings might’ve been just a whim of his. Just another version of the fishermen painting he has. But each and every one of his paintings had their own meanings, and this one has its own meaning. He is trying to tell the people that’re looking at the art that there is always a rainbow after the rain. It is okay to struggle because to struggle means to survive. “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort”
https://salcedoauctions.com/item/1317
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Kiukok
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