MANILA, Philippines – Pio Abad lives and breathes art and heritage. It is obvious with the way he talks about his works, the story behind them, and the discipline he has imposed upon himself to work a certain amount of time per day.
There is no doubt that Pio has already mastered his craft. But he also anchors his practice on his home country, despite having been based in Glasgow and London for the past 9 years.
He often travels for shows and meetings but he always comes home to the Philippines for his family, art, and even research. Pio’s exhibit which is currently running at the Silverlens Gallery in Makati shows a huge chunk of the artist’s multi-faceted personality. His love for history and how he tells stories with his new pieces are endearing to the eye and an ever-curious mind.
“Every Tool is a Weapon if You Hold it Right” shows a number of silk scarves with designs hand drawn by Pio before printed on the delicate material.
The first thing that will really catch your eye in the exhibit is how the beautiful execution of vibrant colors go so well with the intricately detailed drawings that tell the story of a number of people who all lived and contributed to our world’s running story.
Pio, who has been known for his installations and multimedia art, started experimenting with scarves during his time in London when he was taking his masters at the Earl Academy.
“It may not be obvious sometimes but my work always comes back to the human body,” Pio says. Though he admits that he prefers his scarves hung on walls than worn, the artist and his “impoverished versions of the tapestry” have succeeded in making a buzz in the art world.
Unique are Pio’s scarves as their theme of history encompasses what we all read in our day-to-day history books. His art speaks of history from a macro to micro level.
He shares how his visit to the National Museum in Manila became a part of his inspiration for some of his works. When he stepped into the museum’s preservation room, he was able to see Philippine history in a nutshell. One of the shoes of Former First Lady and now Congresswoman Imelda Marcos sits on top of the table with a wooden Ifugao carving of what seems to be a 4-legged animal.
“The preservation room was rather small,” Pio narrates. “So a lot of the items were cramped together.”
In a room where one may have been left with the impression that such things from different time periods do not belong together, Pio made the connection: “We are very much that shoe as that wooden sculpture. It’s our history.”
And so he immortalized these items on material that is often equated with luxury: silk scarves.
But what about the other objects you see there? Pio was also inspired by the work of a photographer who was commissioned to take photos of the belongings left behind by people as kept in the International Missing Persons Archive.
“When I went to our house in Batanes, I started collecting various items that were washed up in the shore. It’s an island where two seas meet so I guess the convergence brings in a lot of stuff people leave behind during their travels at sea,” Pio says while showing photographs of the washed-up objects he saw on the shore near their house.
“They are objects discarded by history, a residue of what we’ve gone through. I am reminded of how much an object goes through in time,” he adds.
A washed up book featured in one of his scarves indeed has more stories to tell than the one that it has on its pages. Who owned this piece? Why was it left behind? How did it end up at sea only to end up on a shore in Batanes? Pio’s works pique the interest of the ones viewing them, giving them a chance to imagine each object’s own story in their own heads.
“A common misconception is that my exhibit here is about the Marcoses. But it’s so much more than that,” he adds. Admitting that his current exhibition has more a historical than a political theme, Pio acknowledges how the focus can sometimes be more on the Imelda Marcos shoes than the other objects.
“It’s understandable. A huge part of our visual history and culture in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, were influenced by the Marcoses. But our story has more to it than the Marcoses.”
Coming from a political family (he is the son of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad and Batanes Representative Dina Abad), Pio has definitely stepped out of his parents’ shadows and has made a name for himself.
In a recent exhibition at the Zabludowicz Collection in London, Pio was among the handful of artists asked to showcase their works in the Invite Series for 2013. There, he showed works inspired by his father’s visit to Pyongyang in 1989. A timely exhibit as during that time, North Korea was once again making the headlines.
Pio has also showcased his works in the Royal Academy of Art in London and the Glasgow Festival of Visual Art to name a few, but there is still a lot in store for this Filipino artist.
Pio says he may have to stay in Copenhagen for a short while for residency and that he is booked for exhibits until next year. One of his upcoming shows will be in Gasworks and it is slated to be his biggest exhibition yet.
His exhibit in Silverlens Gallery runs until November 23. – Rappler.com
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.