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Lot Essay
Recently having won acclaim for his participation in the Singapore Biennale 2013, Leslie de Chavez's critically lauded artistic career has been growing from strength to strength. Combining technically superior painting skill with thematic complexity, de Chavez tackles weighty issues relating to third world politics and social affairs. Employing a satirical approach and dark humor, de Chavez blends a motley cast of characters and non-sequitur motifs - such as de Chavez's by now iconic banana - with a more serious undertone of social engagement.
The appearance of the ubiquitous banana in this painting refers to the artist’s play on the sociopolitical term “banana republic.” 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.
In this painting, de Chavez depicts a transaction between two figures, backgrounded by a highly industrial construction site, by now an ubiquitous sight, especially in Manila, where large scale development is occurring en masse. A squat figure holds a large, menacing crocodile’s mouth open with a rope, revealing de Chavez’s ubiquitous symbol: bananas at the back of its throat. The taller figure appraises the animal cooly, his face and expression unreadable under his hat. The juxtaposition of this unexpected exchange, the presence of a wild animal, and the industrial city setting lends the painting a surreal quality that effectively invites the viewer to look beyond the figurative depictions to glean the artist’s socio-political commentary about the state of his own country.
The appearance of the ubiquitous banana in this painting refers to the artist’s play on the sociopolitical term “banana republic.” 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.
In this painting, de Chavez depicts a transaction between two figures, backgrounded by a highly industrial construction site, by now an ubiquitous sight, especially in Manila, where large scale development is occurring en masse. A squat figure holds a large, menacing crocodile’s mouth open with a rope, revealing de Chavez’s ubiquitous symbol: bananas at the back of its throat. The taller figure appraises the animal cooly, his face and expression unreadable under his hat. The juxtaposition of this unexpected exchange, the presence of a wild animal, and the industrial city setting lends the painting a surreal quality that effectively invites the viewer to look beyond the figurative depictions to glean the artist’s socio-political commentary about the state of his own country.