THE ARTIST AS FISHER OF MEN
>> Thursday, March 6, 2014
JOE
ABAWAG
The
Artist as Fisherman
Joe
Abawag hails from Digos, Davao del Sur. He moved to Baguio City in 1976 where
he worked as a commercial advertising artist. His encounter with fine arts came
in 1980 with the Tahong Bundok, a local
organization of artists. Tahong Bundok was the source of knowledge for drawing,
fine art printmaking and painting. His experience with the group led his works
to be exhibited in various exhibitions in Baguio City. He married Jane Las-ig
Bangyod from Sabangan, Mountain Province in 1981. He decided to move back to
his native town in 1985 to put up his own commercial advertising business.
He
returned to Baguio City in 1992. The wealth of knowledge and the vast
experience from Tahong Bundok allowed him to create more artworks. As a
self-taught artist, he must prevail. “The fact that I am here is not a chance,
there must be someone GREATER who puts me in this place. I love life. That is
why I must live and survived well. Happiness is just an inch behind my
forehead, so clearing the mind is my highest potential goal.”
In
the past twenty years, Joe Abawag has been part of group exhibitions throughout
the country. He has received numerous awards from various competitions. He mounted his first one-man exhibition "Kabanbantayan"
(People and culture of the Mountain Province in the Cordillera) in January 2007
at the Tam-awan Village Gallery. It also launched the medium he has been
discovering: silica on canvas. He has taken part in four art festivals within
the country and has several times been a founding member of several art
organizations.
“Portraits”
are predominant in Joe Abawag’s artworks. In his artworks and art-making
processes, Joe Abawag continues to explore on the connections that human beings
make or don’t make. He looks into the language. He studies the gesture or the
look or the expression. He investigates the physical placement and cultural
values. The “figure” is often the vehicle which relays the connection.
His
bodies of work are categorized similarly with his own life: his processes,
portraits, and pieces are on the same vein with his experiences, relationships
and connections to others; not just distant from the moral and spiritual
gauges, but also within the realm of the social, historical, and instinctual
contexts.
The
arts scene is an ocean; and the artist is a fisher of men.
By Joey Martinez
06 March 2014
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