National artist Jose Joya was a pioneer modern and abstract artist who was active as a painter, print maker, mixed-media artist and ceramicist. It has been said that it was Joya who "spearheaded the birth, growth and flowering of abstract expressionism*" in the Philippines. His mature abstract works have been said to be "characterized by calligraphic gestures and linear forces, and a sense of color vibrancy emanating from an Oriental sensibility." Joya's sense of color has been said to have come from the hues of the Philippine landscape, and his use of rice paper in collages demonstrated an interest in transparency.

Jose Tanig Joya was born on June 3, 1931, the son of Jose Joya Sr. and Asuncion Tanig. He began sketching at the age of...