Imao on Rizal Park theft: Secure other artworks

Award-winning sculptor Juan Sajid Imao was disheartened when he learned that the artwork he had donated to the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) was missing.

“Naturally, he was saddened. For artists, their artwork has much significance. It is not just something they created but it is also a part of themselves,” his wife Cielo told the Inquirer on Tuesday in a phone interview.

It was reported the other day that Imao’s sculpture of a folding crown had disappeared from the Kanlungan ng Sining (Artists’ Haven), an enclosed garden at Rizal Park, Manila, where several art pieces are on display.

“My husband is hoping that the artwork will be recovered,” Cielo said. “And he hopes that security will be tightened in the area to protect the other artworks.”

“He also hopes that the incident will create awareness and appreciation for our artists’ works,” she added. Imao is the son of National Artist for Sculpture Abdulmari Asia Imao.

The younger Imao donated the brass and resin sculpture (not bronze as earlier reported) to AAP—an umbrella group of artists’ organizations in the Philippines—after it earned an honorable mention in the group’s annual art competition in 2003. The AAP holds office at the Kanlungan ng Sining.

The piece titled “Un-MASS-King” depicts a large unraveling crown with human figures being revealed from the mold. Around four feet tall and weighing about 80 kilos, its value has been estimated at half a million pesos.

AAP president Fidel Sarmiento said he realized the sculpture was missing only over the weekend because he was taking photos of the artworks on display in the garden complex for the group’s new website.

The young Imao, who has lost his peripheral vision due to retinitis pigmentosa, is currently working on two life-size bronze sculptures of Andres Bonifacio which will be unveiled in Cebu and Davao City in time for the hero’s 150th birth anniversary in December.