Filipino artist Pio Abad’s political art on exhibit in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Filipino artist Pio Abad is wrapping up his residency at Kadist San Francisco with a solo exhibition entitled “Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite,” from June 5 to August 10.
Abad’s newly commissioned body of work unearths objects and archival material as proofs of a perpetuated political fantasy that allowed former Filipino dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, and his infamously extravagant wife, Imelda, to cling to their gilded power.
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Pio Abad. INQUIRER FILE
Refuting the myth that the sociopolitical legacy of the Marcoses is isolated to the Philippines, the exhibition summons a transnational cast of characters that have figured in the United States’ quest for empire and the perpetuation of its political mythologies.
With sculpture, paintings, prints and a photograph, “Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite” reveals sociopolitical mechanisms that allow authoritarianism to manifest today.
The exhibition is from June 5 to August 10 at KADIST, 3295 20th Street, San Francisco . Tel: +1 415 738 8668.