Rediscovering Bicol through the artistry of Pancho Piano

By MARIA FABELLA

Southeast Asia Artists Magazine

Cover Story, November 23, 2020

Reprinted with the artist’s permission

Bicol is one of the Philippines’ most stunning places, teeming with picturesque scenery and cultural heritage, The region’s thriving art scene has produced some of the country’s most successful artists working today. One of its most prolific proponents is seasoned painter and muralist Pancho Piano.

Hailing from Naga City, Piano studied economics in the University of Nueva Caceres, while nurturing his talent in the arts. At an on-the-spot sketching session, he was discovered by the celebrated abstractionist Jose Joya, who offered him a scholarship at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts.

The artist at one of his stained glass installations

Since then, Piano has established an abundant career as both a solo artist and a supporter of Philippine art. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions around the country and abroad. Among his many accolades are winning twelve Artist of the Year Awards from different Bicol institutions, being a finalist at the 1996 and 1997 AFP Centennial Mural Painting Competitions and the 2018 USA Pamana Award for Arts, Culture and Style. He is a member of Future Legends in New York and was a resident artist in 2014 for Tagaytay Highlands. Piano is the Vice Chairman of the Juan Luna Pasig City Chapter and a member of the board of Tagapagtaguyod ng Sining at Kultura ng Pilipinas

Pancho Piano began painting traditional subjects drawn from Bicolano culture and his style evolved as he progressed in his career as an artist. He says, “I am not the type to focus on just one style where, if you look, that’s it. My mind is always restless.”

Piano’s early works evoke the classic ideals of Philippine painting – the mother and child, local folklore and cultural practices, and historical and religious scenes. His depictions of the elegant provincial woman, or “dalagang bukid”, recall the light atmosphere of Amorsolo. At the same time, these figurative works tread the boundary between the representational and the abstracted. The artist uses thick strokes and bright, vivid colors so his figures are imbued with the stylistic dynamism of Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s works.

His paintings of women and Bicolano deities are situated against an abstracted background, so they appear not just as precise visualizations of Philippine folklore, but as timeless illustrations of the magic of local culture. Piano presents his own take on classic Filipino painting that traditionally is enveloped in realism.

“My approach is different. There is a bit of the modern,” the artist says. He has also done extensive work as a muralist, creating large scale murals for corporate commissions and churches with historical narratives or religious tableaus. Piano had a natural ability for storytelling as an artist and a poet. These works show his capacity to render intricate details and combine different visuals while telling a harmonic story. His figurative rendition of Bicol’s famous Peñafrancia Festival blends colonial Filipino architecture and clothing with scenes from provincial life. He draws on the tradition of grand visual storytellers like Carlos “Botong” Francisco to tell the tales that have shaped him as an artist.

Apart from his painted murals, he has done stained glass installations for numerous churches around the country. His works fuse the luminous medieval artistic practice with a Filipino penchant for narratives. This affinity for stained glass when he worked for a glass company as a designer and art consultant. Eventually he turned his detail oriented hand in painting to the centuries-old medium. He uses oven baked glass with lead content create decadent religious scenery that light up the interiors of churches with bright arrays of colors. His works include Albay Cathedral, Peñafrancia Golden Jubilee, San Jose Church in Camarines Sur, Mirror Mother Justice Church, and the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. For this artist, these complex and dazzling works represent both an expression and affirmation of his faith in religious stories.

Pancho Piano with the Salingoy Art Group in Naga City, September 2022

Piano’s studies in UP Fine Arts are what opened up his practice to full abstraction. “Before, I told myself that since I know how to do figurative maybe I will not go to the school of abstraction, When I was in UP, this changes. From the barrios of Bicol and Naga City, and then to this major city in the Philippines, Manila – it changed, My style evolved.”

Pancho Piano is also a staunch supporter of his fellow artists. He has helped organize exhibits for other artists in Bicol and Manila and is an ardent collector of his contemporaries’ works. Along with his many affiliations, he hosts workshops for art enthusiasts and aspiring artists. One of the artists groups that is dear to his heart is the Salingoy Art Group in Naga City. Through the group, he hopes to encourage more Bicolano artists to narrate the history of Bicol through their art.

The word “salingoy” means to look back. Thus, he encourages his fellow Bicol artists to maintain their ties to the homeland no matter where their career in art takes them. He has exhibited in venues all around the world, New York, France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. Yet no matter how far he has traveled, he would make sure to always look back. Bicol remains part of his artistic and personal identity. In between his many local and international shows, he makes time for commissions from Bicol communities. In gratitude, they reward him every year with special recognition and accolades.

About the author: Mara Fabella is an artist and a writer who graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Fine Arts, major in Painting. Her favorite conversation topics include art history, comic book cinematic universes, and fitness wear. She is an avid yoga practitioner.