Revisiting: The artistry of Abdulmari Asia Imao

background, the young Imao sold ice drops, peanuts, and guinataan around movie houses in Jolo in order to stay in school at the Jolo Trade School, where he also carved furniture to augment his income. He also worked as a stone breaker in road construction, and as a cargador in the Jolo pier. He continued earning his keep in UP by working as a model and posed in life drawing sessions at the university.

Having no access to paper and pencil did not stop him from expressing his artistic urge. He drew on the leaves of dapdap and banana, drawing ukkil designs early on.

In 1969, in an interview with Nick Joaquin, Imao mentioned that he had been “working on the sarimanok style.

This is a design I am trying to improve, revitalize. That is why I have been doing research on this Muslim motif: to develop it into another design which will be distinctively Muslim. ”

Education, fate, and fortune and fortune

Seeing Philippine art on a floating exhibit in 1954 by the Arts Association of the Philippines aboard a ship in Jolo captivated so much the young Abdulmari that he visited it almost daily. Tomas Bernardo (1916-1994), a painter and the AAP secretary, noticed the young man’s keen attention to the exhibit and encouraged him to explore his artistic leanings in Manila.

Continued from page 1 Continued from page 1 ern Mindanao Command spokesman.

Maj. Gen. Roy Galido vowed to continue various peace and development projects in Sulu and at the same time assured government leaders of the military’s steadfast resolve to eliminate all the remaining threats in the province.

Galido, the former commander of the 6th Infantry Division in Sulu recently and paid a courtesy call on Gov. Sakur Tan at his office in Patikul town.

Galido was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, commander of the 11th Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Sulu; and Brig. Gen. Antonio Bautista, the Deputy Division Commander; and Brig. Gen. Benjamin Batara Jr, commander of the 1103rd Infantry Brigade.

Galido formally assumed the top Western Mindanao Command post on January 20. He replaced Maj. Gen. Arturo Rojas.

“Reliability will be anchored on our ability to prepare and anticipate security implications of any event or situation either natural or man-made. Responsiveness will be the key output of our reliability, and this is where constant planning and simulations of scenarios with security implications must be done, with this our response will always be positive,” Galido said.

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Continued from page 1 traditional motifs of okkir into his own works—especially the sarimanok, naga, and pako rabong or fern motifs.

Ukkil/okkir, with its vine-leaftendril motif, is a major art form among the Muslims of southern Philippines, with the root word ukit, meaning “to carve.” With Hindu and Chinese influences that are especially seen in the naga design, a stylized form of the mythical dragon or serpent, and accompanied with leaf and ferns in spirals.

The art of southern Philippines is rooted in its indigenous traditions that have existed long before the spread of Islam, and expressed in its material culture such as woodcarving, architecture, boat building, grave markers, mat-making, and other functional and decorative forms connected with its way of life.

By incorporating okkir into his art, Imao revitalized the traditional form. More importantly, he raised the awareness of identity rooted in one’s place and geography to the larger Philippine society, as very much part of being Filipino, at the same time.

Sarimanok glory Sarimanok

The sarimanok refers to a mythical bird with flowing feathers and a fish in its beak, with many folk stories behind it.

Imao uses the sarimanok as the nexus of his visual world. His Sarimanok series (in acrylic or oil on canvas, in brass, relief on brass sheet metal, and print) are done in a variety of configuration that includes geometric and cubistic forms as well as vegetal design, with ferns tapering in graceful curls. His deconstruction of the sarimanok engages the viewers to trace where the bird begins or where the fish ends. Curvilinear and sinuous lines abound that echo the ebb and flow of the waves, undulating like the rise and fall of our lives.

The constants in Imao’s works include the use of vibrant colors (in shades of blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, orange), the red circle of a sun, the fish, the bird with rounded black eye and pointed beak, a bird’s tail of long flowing feathers that curls inwards, the fish scales with its mesmerizing curves, and an occasional dome of a mosque, a crescent moon, or a minaret.

He attributed his use of primary colors by being a fisherman for five years during the Japanese occupation where he saw so many colorful fishes. “ I was inspired by them, because of their color.” He added that in general, Tausugs prefer bright colors. “You’ll see that even their native costumes are very, very colorful; primary and secondary colors are their main color scheme.”

Abdulmari Asia Imao (1936-2014) Abdulmari Asia Imao (1936-2014)

Amidst a most impoverished

Eventually, Imao received a scholarship from the Commission on National Integration and studied sculpture at the University of the Philippines, under the guidance of Guillermo Tolentino, Anastacio Caedo, and Napoleon Abueva.

Several scholarships supported further his art studies: a Smith Mundt and Fulbright scholarship for a master in fine arts in sculpture, major in brass casting at the University of Kansas, 1960-1962. He did advanced studies in sculpture and ceramics as a Fellow at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1961-1962, and in brass-casting and photography as a Faculty Scholar at the Columbia University in New York City from 1962-1963. He was the first Asian recipient of the New York Museum of Modern Art Grant to Europe and Scandinavia in 1963.

Returning to the country in 1964, Imao taught fine arts at the University of the East. After receiving the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award in 1968, he decided to become a full-time sculptor and painter. (R.C. Ladrido, Vera Files)

“The two talked about the good relationship between the military and the local government officials of Sulu. Governor Tan assured the new commander of his continued support of the Western Mindanao Command’s endeavors particularly in sustaining the peace in the province.”

“Maj. Gen. Galido, likewise, gave assurance of the military’s steadfast resolve to eliminate all the remaining threats in Sulu,” said Army Lt. Col. Abdurasad Sirajan, the West-

While in Sulu, Galido also met with soldiers where he emphasized the importance of discipline and work-life balance.

“Maintaining a high level of morale is essential in the accomplishment of our mission, hence, we must ensure that we are always inspired to do our job well,” he said, adding, troops must be reliable, responsive and relevant as part of nation-building.

“Relevance is what I must emphasize and most importantly be understood if our stakeholders do not appreciate the way we perform our missions, we are irrelevant, thus, we can be considered a wasted investment of the government and people, to avoid this, we must constantly communicate and coordinate our plans and much better if we could integrate with the plans of our stakeholders to build a better nation…this for me is pagkakaisa,” he added. (Mindanao Examiner)