Jigger Cruz
The M (Metropolitan Museum of Manila) presents Hail Holy Eyes beginning November 19, a major retrospective tracing the evolution of Jigger Cruz, one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Philippine art. Featuring over a hundred artworks from 2007 to the present, the exhibition offers an overwhelming encounter with Cruz’s charged, visceral creation.
Jigger Cruz, ‘Self Portrait,’ oil on canvas (2021)
Renowned for thick, textured surfaces and vibrant clashes of color, and found imagery, Cruz blurs the lines between abstraction and figuration. In Hail Holy Eyes, these works unite into a comprehensive environment—an overwhelming expanse of pigment, emotion, and wonder.
Curator Norman Crisologo describes: “Hail Holy Eyes are words, not a sentence. They are triggers aimed at the spectre of a hundred or more Jigger Cruz paintings in your face, up close and personal. An avalanche of unanswered questions will descend upon the viewers—questions upon questions, sticks and stones on bare and wanting flesh. To dissect and sanctify, to hail and to heil. To meander and twirl past unholy dialogues beneath a cacophony of angel hymns. To shout and feel, with your very own eyes.”
Through this powerful gathering of works, Cruz revisits recurring themes of sound, faith, and renewal. Hail Holy Eyes reveals an artist unafraid of excess—where beauty and disorder coexist, and seeing itself becomes an act of devotion.
Groundspace, 2/F North and South Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila
19 November 2025-01 March 2026. Tuesday-Friday: 11am-6pm. Saturday-Sunday: 10am-6pm. Closed on Mondays and public holidays
