Phoenix 

Josignacio's "Phoenix" is built from layers of acrylic paint, a distinctly modern material that allows for bold, expressive gestures. The paint handling here, with its dripping rivulets and textured build-up, emphasizes the inherent qualities of the medium: its viscosity, its capacity for both blending and separation. The artist clearly enjoys exploring these attributes, pushing the paint to its limits. He’s working within a long tradition of painting. However, he’s clearly more invested in the physical properties of the acrylic than in illusionistic representation. It’s almost as though he’s treating the paint as a sculptural material, piling it up to create a sense of depth and dynamism. By foregrounding the materiality of his medium, Josignacio invites us to consider the labor and skill involved in its manipulation. We can understand painting not just as a window onto the world, but as a testament to the artist's creative process.