JOSE SANTOS III (b. The Philippines 1970)

The Closet depicts an open box filled to the brim with objects, which are wrapped. Over the surface of the mysteriously concealed contents, painted pictures of apparel are 'taped and pasted down' like labels. This denotes that these are the only visual information one is allowed to see across the shallow surface. Inferentially, it points out through anatomical correspondence, the absent person(a) to whom the apparel and objects in the pictures belong, illuminating the paradox that lie at the juncture between concealing and revealing.
The veristic rendering of light, texture and detail, whilst hallmark of the artist, unwittingly references trompe l'oeil wall-rack pictures - still life paintings showing mundane objects pasted or tacked on a wall board popular in mid-1600's Netherlands and were innovations of the tradition called bedriegertje or "little deception". The open box depicted in the work, corresponds with the dimensional proportions of a canvas stretcher. That it also happens to resemble one, relates it with another old form, chantourn paintings, which were pictures that were cut out along its outline and then painted in a lifelike manner. Jose Santos' work, with its personal symbols, allusions and art historical references, may also be considered as a contemporary manifestation of the allegorical impulse.