The Artwork of Jeff Pabotoy
Artist Biography
Background:
I was born in a farming/fishing village in Bohol, Philippines and moved to Fairfax, Virginia, at age 13. This was a difficult time for my family and me as each of us struggled to blend and assimilate into a new culture. In school I was either invisible or served as a target of ridicule; both equally unpleasant.
Art started as a tool to attract attention in a positive light, and later became a language through which I used to identify and express myself. Wanting more and more from art, I continued to pursue it through college. Through scholarships I was able to attend and graduate from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s painting department in the year 2000. Currently I reside in Arlington, Virginia, with my wife and twins, teaching Art at Yorktown High School.
Process of creating:
I find comfort and warmth in my friends and family. When I am not with them, I find myself clinging to the objects they leave behind; a substitute for their absence. My paintings are often mistaken for still-life observations, but in reality, they are portraits of family and friends represented through objects.
One example of this is a painting of mine representing my father as an iron clamp. This could not be more symbolic of who he is as a man. The cast iron clamp is simple, strong, will not break, and it holds tight all things that may other wise fall apart; the exact qualities my father possesses.
Ceramics:
The traditional purpose of a vase is to contain and support something more appealing than itself. Vases have become a pedestal for flora. Most ceramic artists define themselves by re-creating the vase to be more beautiful than its counterpart. My vessels find a way to co-exist with its opposite. Finding a balance between the vessel and its contents has been my goal.
One particular vase embodies a shy boy hiding a gift. Another draws attention away from the petals as a focal point, and takes the observer’s eye towards the empty space within itself. My vessels choose to reveal or introduce its opposite without losing its identity. Each vessel screams, ‘I too have aesthetic value.’
“The work produced is a thing among things, able to be experienced and described as a sum of qualities. But from time to time it can face the receptive beholder in its whole embodied form.”
-Martin Buber
Exhibits:
Arlington County Public Library http://arlingtonvalib.blogspot.com/2010/08/hidden-light-paintings-by-jeff-pabotoy.html
Lake Barcroft Arts Festival Open House: November 14-15, 2009 http://www.6364lakeview.com/
Victoria Hammond, Open House, March 2008
Metamorphosis Art Show, September 2008
Chowan Arts Council
National Museum of American Art
Elipse Gallery
I was born in a farming/fishing village in Bohol, Philippines and moved to Fairfax, Virginia, at age 13. This was a difficult time for my family and me as each of us struggled to blend and assimilate into a new culture. In school I was either invisible or served as a target of ridicule; both equally unpleasant.
Art started as a tool to attract attention in a positive light, and later became a language through which I used to identify and express myself. Wanting more and more from art, I continued to pursue it through college. Through scholarships I was able to attend and graduate from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s painting department in the year 2000. Currently I reside in Arlington, Virginia, with my wife and twins, teaching Art at Yorktown High School.
Process of creating:
I find comfort and warmth in my friends and family. When I am not with them, I find myself clinging to the objects they leave behind; a substitute for their absence. My paintings are often mistaken for still-life observations, but in reality, they are portraits of family and friends represented through objects.
One example of this is a painting of mine representing my father as an iron clamp. This could not be more symbolic of who he is as a man. The cast iron clamp is simple, strong, will not break, and it holds tight all things that may other wise fall apart; the exact qualities my father possesses.
Ceramics:
The traditional purpose of a vase is to contain and support something more appealing than itself. Vases have become a pedestal for flora. Most ceramic artists define themselves by re-creating the vase to be more beautiful than its counterpart. My vessels find a way to co-exist with its opposite. Finding a balance between the vessel and its contents has been my goal.
One particular vase embodies a shy boy hiding a gift. Another draws attention away from the petals as a focal point, and takes the observer’s eye towards the empty space within itself. My vessels choose to reveal or introduce its opposite without losing its identity. Each vessel screams, ‘I too have aesthetic value.’
“The work produced is a thing among things, able to be experienced and described as a sum of qualities. But from time to time it can face the receptive beholder in its whole embodied form.”
-Martin Buber
Exhibits:
Arlington County Public Library http://arlingtonvalib.blogspot.com/2010/08/hidden-light-paintings-by-jeff-pabotoy.html
Lake Barcroft Arts Festival Open House: November 14-15, 2009 http://www.6364lakeview.com/
Victoria Hammond, Open House, March 2008
Metamorphosis Art Show, September 2008
Chowan Arts Council
National Museum of American Art
Elipse Gallery