This November, The M presents Hail Holy Eyes, 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 practice.
Renowned for his 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.
Jigger Cruz_Self Portrait_Oil on canvas_2021.
Jigger Cruz_Between Gods_Oil on Canvas_2025.
As Curator Norman Crisologo describes it: “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.
Here is a sampling of his works on display:
The Exhibit opened November 19, 2025 and will run until March 1, 2026 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, MK Tan Centre, 30th St, BGC, Taguig.
All images are courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.