John Frank Sabado at The Drawing Room

John Frank Sabado, detail from pen and ink drawing, "No Tresspassing"

You can’t miss the allusion of the bulols in gas masks. To the indigenous tribes of the Cordilleras, the battle against over development never ends. John Frank Sabado, born in the forests of Benguet, feels this more keenly than most.

The environmentalist slant of Sabado’s numerous works at The Drawing Room is a little too obvious, but then, so is his wonderful handiwork. The repeating op-art patterns that hypnotize and pull you into his pen and ink drawings evoke the highly textured heavy cloth woven by the Igorots. You can imagine him working his pen, scratching at the paper’s surface as if he were chiseling, carving out those works of wood that the highlands are known for. His paintings feel the same way. They bear the imprint of his heritage, as if he sliced a cross section of the Mt. Province and looked at it through a prism, then etched his impressions: its craggy terrain and brown landscape superimposed by details of animal skin or sacred ritual. Painted thread traverse his canvases, breaking their surfaces with lines and grooves.

I remember when I first saw the 43-year-old artist’s work, perhaps a decade ago in Hiraya Gallery. This exhibit allowed me to get reacquainted with his exacting skill.

Vanguards of the Earth runs from 24 March to 14 April 2012 at The Drawing Room Contemporary Art, 1007 Metropolitan Avenue, Metrostar Bldg., Makati City. (632) 897-7877 or visit www.drawingroomgallery.com