Aside from my involvement in sports as President and Founder of the Philippine National Bobsled Luge and Skeleton Association, I have also been a promoter of Philippine art.

In this regard, I am pleased to announce an art exhibit of Bicolano painter Pancho Piano that I am co-curating at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, South Africa from January 25, 2025, to February 2, 2025, in collaboration with the Koena Art Institute. “Ka Pancho” will be the FIRST Filipino to exhibit at this very historic and prestigious location.

Editors’ Note: The Cape Heritage Museum, located within the historic Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, provides a narrative of South Africa’s history, highlighting the interactions among the Khoe, San, and Dutch communities, through the eras of colonialism and apartheid (ref. Wikipedia). The Koena Art Institute is an organization that celebrates and preserves Khoe and San heritage and identity, the indigenous peoples of the Southern Region of Africa (ref. Koena Art Institute website).

Ka Pancho hails from Camarines Sur in the Bicol Region and has represented the Philippines in many international art events. He is the consummate artist–a portrait, landscape, and abstract painter; muralist; sculptor; and stained-glass artist. To date, Pancho has done more than 150 mural paintings and stained-glass installations in different locations, including over 70 churches in the Philippines and abroad.

I first met Ka Pancho when I was the Consultant for International Affairs of the National Parks Development Committee under then Executive Director Jett H. Villegas, a position I also held at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts under Executive Director Cecile Alvarez.

Ka Pancho and I initially worked on art installations in Rizal Park, located in the heart of the capital and the Philippines’ premiere national park.

From the Philippines, Ka Pancho and I ventured overseas where I helped him exhibit his works in France, Austria, and Slovakia. As an Honorary Consul of Georgia, I brought Pancho to that country where he became the FIRST Filipino to exhibit at no less than the National Gallery in the capital Tbilisi, in partnership with my good friend Lela Tsitsuashvili, Curator of Exhibitions, Georgia National Museum. Ka Pancho has also exhibited in the USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Saipan, and Palau.

This exhibit in South Africa is very special. For several years, Ka Pancho and I talked about exhibiting in Cape Town, referred to in South Africa as the Mother City. Unfortunately, Covid19 delayed our plans. But now, we’re finally going to do it. It is such a privilege and honor to bring him and his art to South Africa, a country that truly is my second home.

It will be an enchanting summer evening of cocktails and canapes, an art demonstration between Pancho and fellow exhibitors South Africans, Garth Erasmus and Stanley Grootboom, wonderful creative folks and music, in one of the most romantic and stunning locations in Cape Town.

Featuring: Merging Colors Series 1-3

More about the artist

With hundreds of group shows and recognitions from different institutions under his belt, Pancho Mistula Piano is one of the most important and well-respected Filipino artists in the Philippines today. His art mainly focused on myths and legends and the people of his beloved Bicol region.

His Daragang Magayon and Peñafrancia series are well-loved by collectors, critics, and even the ordinary folks themselves. A very versatile painter, his stained glass and murals have been part of different churches here in the Philippines and overseas.

In a book entitled “Different Strokes.” a book on the ingenuity of Filipino artists (volume 1), the author wrote, “in his paintings, Piano either becomes a mythologist as he often paints characters from the Bicol mythology, or a devotee, as he always paints the Traslacion, or the return of the patroness of Bicol, the Our Lady of Peñafrancia, to her old home. From time to time, he also becomes a historian as he was commissioned a series of paintings depicting the lives of Filipino heroes namely Andres Bonifacio and Apolinario Mabini. His skill to translate into visual representation the oral tradition of his beloved Bicolandia is truly superb…”

Pancho Piano’s art collective leadership roles and engagements are as follows:

• Founding Chairman Salingoy Art Group in Bikol
• Founding Pres Bikol Expression ART Group
• Founding Chairman Bikol Kugos Art Group
• Member Future Legends in New York, USA
• Vice Chairman, Juan Luna chapter in Pasig  
• 60th One Man Show
• 250 Group Exhibitions

This announcement first appeared as FB post in the pages of the author and artist on January 15, 2024. The header image features Pancho Piano’s painting “Merging Culture”, 36″ x 84″, acrylic on canvas.