In Memory Of
Papo de Asis
December 16, 1949 - January 8, 2005
Brief
Bio
Extensive Bio
Curriculum Vitae
Papo de Asis was born on December 16, 1949 in
the small town of Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines. He has been
creating socially conscious artwork since the 1970s. When
Martial Law was declared in the Philippines in 1972 during
the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, his art took on a much
deeper, political meaning and the artist became an artist/activist.
In 1975, Papo together with fourteen other artists
formed a social realist group called Kaisahan (Unity).
Until the day Marcos fled the country ten years later, the
group painted murals protesting the dictatorship and helped
strengthen the alliance with workers and peasants using creative
efforts. All this transformed Papo to paint new subject matter,
vividly portraying the ongoing injustices such as military
atrocities, salvaging and rampant human rights violations.
When Papo immigrated to the United States in
1990, he continued to be active in the artist and activist
community. He has led many art workshops and contributed numerous
murals and banners for demonstrations, conferences and political
forums. His art became well-known amongst both artists and
social justice activists throughout the U.S. He was one of
the founding members of People’s Artist in 1996 and
participated in many community-based activities and artist
workshops. In the past couple of years, he founded Habi Ng
Kalinangan (also known as Habi Arts), a collective of artists
in Los Angeles committed to political and artistic empowerment
for progressive social change.
Papo is known world-wide for his artwork and
has received numerous awards. He has participated in various
solo and group art exhibitions in the Philippines, France,
Sweden, Japan, Germany, Australia, Korea and the United States
(See Curriculum Vitae). His
paintings are in the collections of the Philippine National
Museum in Manila and in various private collections in the
United States, especially in Los Angeles. He recently was
elected as Vice President of Lantern of the East, Los Angeles
(LELA).
Papo died of a massive stroke on January 8, 2005. In the
United States, he is survived by his fiancée, his son
and daughters.
To submit statements, stories,
and/or pictures, please email memorial@habi-arts.org.
All submissions will be compiled and forwarded to Papo's
family. Your emailed submissions may be posted to this
site unless given instructions not to do so.
Habi
Arts Statement
The Habi Arts collective would like to extend
our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Papo
de Asis. The passing of Papo due to a stroke on January 8,
2005 marks a great loss of a man who meant so much to his
family as well as to the artist and activist communities.
As a fiancé, father, brother, friend, artist, social
justice activist and community organizer, Papo was an inspiration
to all who met him.
Seldom does one encounter a man like Papo with
such humor, intelligence, talent, and warmth of heart. He
was generous and always humble--always willing to help out.
His contributions to the arts is revolutionary both in its
content and scope. He combines his skill as an artist with
a dedication to speak the truth about conditions of humanity
and in the struggle for national democracy in the Philippines.
He used his brush and canvas to express what
we could not always do with words. He has dedicated his life
to the cause of social justice and for that the people will
always be grateful. It is indeed a difficult farewell to a
man that has given so much of himself to the world but also
for those in the world that have become his family, his legacy
will continue to inspire and guide us.
ILPS/INPS
Statement
TRIBUTE TO PAPO DE ASIS
January 12, 2005
To the Beloved Family of Papo de Asis,
His Closest Comrades and Friends
Through Habi-Arts
We share your grief over the passing away of Papo de Asis.
We feel a personal sense of loss because we knew Papo as one
of the artists most active in the Free Jose Maria Committee
in the period of 1982 to 1986, the years of growing mass unrest
leading to the overthrow of the Marcos fascist dictatorship
by the people in 1986.
All of us who have known the political and artistic commitment,
work and accomplishments as well as all the exemplary personal
qualities of Papo are saddened. But at the same time we are
all comforted by the fact that he has left to us and to the
entire Filipino people a significant and inspiring body of
works. We are glad to know that his family, comrades and friends
are starting to consolidate this legacy.
Papo will always be remembered and honored as an outstanding
revolutionary cadre and artist who studied Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
and Philippine society and revolution, who propagated and
practised social realism and who contributed to the advance
of the new democratic revolution in the Philippines through
his artistic works and through his indefatigable efforts to
arouse, organize and mobilize the artists and other cultural
workers to serve the people.
Papo was ever eager to know better the workers and peasants
that he depicted in his works. He either lived with them or
he renewed his links with them through visits and serious
social investigation. He was able to go to so many places
in several regions in the Philippines, where the revolutionary
forces and people had grown in strength. He worked for one
underground publication after another.
In summing up the life of Papo, it is necessary to have a
chronology of his place of work and residence, his artistic
works and the major political and artistic organizations and
events that he initiated or joined. But to be most interesting
and enlightening, it is necessary to show his resoluteness,
courage and militancy against terrible forces and tremendous
odds and his gentle persuasiveness, humility, style of hard
work and helpfulness to comrades and friends.
Certainly, it took extraordinary conviction and bravery for
Papo to be a revolutionary activist and artist under conditions
of the Marcos fascist dictatorship. He was a real comrade
in arms and not a mere fair weather friend. He was not afraid
of organizing the Mabini artists and the artists in universities
along the national democratic line. He made manifest his position
on social reality not only in the relatively cozy art galleries
with framed paintings but also in street mass actions with
huge murals and gigantic figures.
We are happy to know that wherever Papo was, in the Philippines,
in the United States or elsewhere, he was always a revolutionary
dedicated to the struggle of the Filipino people for national
liberation and democracy as well as to that of the people
of the world against imperialism and reaction. He looked forward
to the eventual victory of the proletariat and people in the
struggle for socialism.
Papo de Asis will always live in our hearts and minds and
in the struggle of the Filipino people for national and social
liberation against US imperialism and the local exploiting
classes of big compradors and landlords.
--Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International League of Peoples' Struggle
--Julieta de Lima
Executive Director
International Network of Philippine Studies
BAYAN
USA Statement
BAYAN USA pays tribute to Danilo Hubbero "Papo"
de Asis--people's artist, revolutionary, and kasama in the
struggle for national democracy in the Philippines.
Born on December 16, 1949, in Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines,
Papo's service to the people began in the 1970s when he joined
the group Sining Bayan (People's Art) during the
early days of Martial Law. In 1975, he became a founder of
Kaisahan (Unity), a group of young nationalist artists who
portrayed the movement for national liberation through primarily
social realist paintings and other artwork exhibited in different
art galleries.
In the early 1980s, he organized among the Mabini artists
and was instrumental in the formation of an alliance of artists
including fine arts students from UST, UP, UE, FEATI, as well
as other artists.
When he immigrated to the U.S. in 1990, Papo continued fighting
for the cause of the Filipino people. He helped to form collectives
of people's artists committed to promoting the struggle against
imperialism and for national liberation, democracy, and social
liberation. His participation in dozens of exhibits worldwide
such as "Tribute to the Worker," "MASA,"
"The Struggle of Our People," and "Third World
and Us" demonstrated his commitment to wielding art as
a tool in this struggle. He also contributed numerous murals
and banners for demonstrations, conferences and political
forums and his art became well-known among social justice
activists throughout the U.S. Most recently, Papo was the
founder of Habi Arts or Habi ng Kalinangan and the Vice President
of Tulong Sa Bayan, all based in Los Angeles.
May Papo live on in our collective memory as one of those
artists who remained true and faithful to the cause of the
Filipino people, and may his dedication to the struggle inspire
artists and organizers to continue fighting for the liberation
of all people from the grips of imperialism.
MIGRANTE
Europe Statement
WHAT MAKES A HERO
It’s not the manner of death
That makes someone a hero.
It is the meaning drawn
From the struggles against the foe.
There is the hero who dies in the battlefield,
There is the hero who dies of hunger and disease,
There is the hero who dies of some accident,
There is the hero who dies of old age.
Whatever is the manner of death,
There is a common denominator
A hero serves the people
To his very last breath.
(from Prison and Beyond by Jose Maria Sison, 10 December
1977)
Nagpapaabot ang MIGRANTE Europe ng pakikiramay sa mga mahal
sa buhay, kaibigan, kapanalig at kasama ng yumaong PAPO DE
ASIS.
Other Memorial Links
Concerned
Artists of the Philippines
Olvera
Street
 Artist
Statement
November 28, 1992
It would be very difficult for an artist to probe into the
depths of his soul and psyche, when the machination of half
of his brain was forced into subjugation by the western colonial
masters…the other half laid to a pitiful state of lethargy
by “cultural amnesia.”
Yet the need to express what to us is a constant source of
torment and suffering remains a very painful necessity.
For me, to express is to be free. For freedom is a fundamental
element of life, art an expression, a tool to realize freedom.
My art is my way of exposing the kind of suppression that
had been employed by not only the historical imperialistic
conquerors, but also the ever-emerging oligarchs and the corrupt
social classes they spawned. They presently dominate the state-political-economic
power.
Hence, my paintings yearn to be the anguished expression
of a people long denied of justice and equality.
The convoluted reality of my historical past wrote the scenario
to my present sources of sorrow.
The muffled whimper of a frightened baby whose father was
abducted by a para-military unit, the deseperados. The torture
of political detainees. The massacre (“salvaging”)
of the farmers and workers—both the innocent victims
and those who worked for change.
I hear their “cry in the wilderness.” I feel
responsible in portraying how they were dehumanized. Precious
lives cheapened by brutality. Barbarism.
A play of colors, textures. The drama of lights and shadows.
I let a certain feeling flow to my audience. Open their hearts
and mind to the injustice of justice-Philippine-style.
The composition usually depicts contradiction. Juxtaposition.
Cause and effect. Victims. Perpetrators. Order. Chaos.
The form is direct. Sometimes surrealistic. Not a mere expression
but a grand visualization of feelings. Transformation of pain
into figures. A grand delusion? Emphatically, no. The form
will take roots from my aboriginal tradition.
My concepts rooted in contemporary values.
An exciting discovery of a technique
that can
capture
the moment…of pain and anger…
the
unity of idea and form.
Color.
Textures. Anger.
Papo de Asis
Los Angeles, California
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