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.

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.