Artist Pandy Aviado considers his pieces as “works in progress” until they are sold. For his latest exhibit, titled Pictures @ the Exhibition (Homage to Mussorgsky), he is presenting artworks that were refined over time with layers and layers of paint. The title of the exhibit is based on the musical piece Aviado was listening to while working on the said pieces. “Most of the images are from my works in the 80s and 90s. The initial image is a print from an etching. Through the years, I paint over them until they end up as a painting,” explains Aviado. The result is a collection that is meant to be seen primarily in an assemblage or in an intimate space of a collector. Having done a similar exhibit at Utterly Gallery in Singapore two years ago, Aviado noted the big impact of seeing the works assembled together. To him, this exhibit’s piece de resistance is “Gemini Rising,” which was earlier featured in a book and in an exhibition at the GSIS Museum last year, titled Pitik-Bulag. Poet Mesandel Virtusio Arguelles, who interpreted Aviado’s work at the exhibition, was struck by the balance of the images in the mixed media painting: “It was this balance that I wanted to capture and approximate…
