Kayod Nang Kayod

Pio Candelaria in the Office Gallery

December 6, 2013 – March 14, 2014

Gallery Hours: Wednesdays & Thursdays, 1:00–6:00PM

Kearny Street Workshop

1246 Folsom Street, Suite #100

San Francisco, CA 94103

“When I was a child, a farmer taught me how to look at the formation of clouds to determine if a particular day is good for planting root crops. From then on, I would always watch for the coming of the cirrostratus clouds that would signify a bountiful harvest of round sweet potatoes that my nanay would later coat in sugar and fry. Signs are everywhere around us. In an urban setting, these can take on the forms of billboards, placards, or even graffiti. Given a new environment, my instinct is to look for signs to clue me in on my surroundings. As a migrant worker, this ability to decipher unfamiliar code becomes an important mechanism for adaptation.

In observing nature, I have come to view migration as intrinsic to survival. Birds, for instance, freely roam the earth to find food. Why then must people simply seeking a better life be restricted in movement by governments and other bodies? We share this planet and its resources, after all.

My body of work tends to deal with issues that are important to me: immigration, labor, globalization, and so forth. I use art to convey and inspire social change. In my paintings, I like to juxtapose thoughtfully-composed images with supplementary text. The interplay between them gives way to new meanings with room for the viewer’s own interpretation and ideas. My imagery is reflective of my nostalgia for the tranquility of rural life: folks jamming; eating escargots stewed in coconut milk; and drinking spirits made from nipa palm and coconut.”

- Pio Candelaria

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The artist would like to thank the staff and volunteers at Kearny Street Workshop and South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) for their support in making this exhibition possible.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Pio Candelaria creates artwork to express cultural insights and the beauty of his surroundings. He enjoys taking photographs of food, nature, and man-made structures. He is particularly passionate about documenting individuals and communities making a difference in a changing world.

Early on in his career, Pio worked prolifically as a graphic designer, creating marketing collateral for corporate and non-profit clients. Notably, he designed posters and playbills for the Philippine Educational Theater Association, while also performing with its repertory arm, the Kalinangan Ensemble. He was one of several collaborating artists who worked on Tuklas Sining, a series of monographs published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

After migrating to the United States, Pio worked as a freelance artist for various news publications, including the Los Angeles Jewish Times, the in-house newsletter of Pacific Bell, and Minuteman Press. He co-founded The Filament, a company that produced video documentaries about Filipino Americans, including Manila Bayou: Filipinos of Louisiana, Dance Every Sunday Afternoon, and a music video entitled Dapat (As It Should Be).

In his paintings, Pio employs a combination of text and imagery to create ambiguous layers of meaning. He tends to use previously discarded materials, such as digital printing plates or rice sacks, in place of traditional canvas. In his series entitled Migrant Worker, he juxtaposes keywords in his native tongue, Tagalog, with their English and Spanish equivalents. (Through the process of colonization, both Western languages have syncretized with Tagalog to form modern Filipino.) In some instances, he even integrates characters in Baybayin, an indigenous, pre-Hispanic script. Pio has exhibited at the San Francisco Public Library, Washington Square Gallery, and the I-Hotel Manilatown Center, among other venues.

In addition to maintaining his painting practice, Pio also works in the restaurant industry as a line cook and pastry chef assistant. His next project combines his culinary skills with his proclivity for design: a photographic series of avant-garde Filipino-international fusion dishes created by noneother than Pio himself.

Every few months, we take advantage of the high walls and natural light in our office space to showcase work by an Asian Pacific American artist in his or her first solo exhibit. Learn more about our Office Gallery program.