Artist puts Mayon closer to tourists’ hearts

LEGAZPI CITY—Soon, visitors and residents of Albay can proudly wear the province’s top tourist drawer.

Mayon Volcano-themed acrylic paintings by Bicolano artist Pancho Piano would be reproduced on shirts to boost the province’s tourism and arts and culture promotion. The 23 artworks featuring Mt. Mayon, Daragang Magayon (the mountain deity in the Legend of Daragang Magayon), Magayon Festival and other celebrations would also be seen on postcards, tarpaulin streamers and other promotional items.

Piano’s artworks revolving around the 2,462-meter volcano, famed for its almost perfect cone, were acquired by the Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (PTCAO) and Magayon Festival Committee, through Gov. Joey Salceda. These are on display in a one-man show, “Sulyap ki Mayon,” from Oct. 25 to Nov. 25 at the atrium of the Albay capitol.

Piano, a native of Lagonoy, Camarines Sur, said he wanted to highlight the beauty and mystic of Albay’s Mt. Mayon because when people talk about the province, it is often with disasters and calamities.

“I want people to know that even if there are calamities [in Albay], the beauty of Mayon [remains],” he said.

Piano said he depicted in his paintings different scenes, even images of people struggling to return to their normal lives after a typhoon, because “I want people to know that there is always hope.”

Salceda urged local artists to learn new techniques and upgrade their skills so they can improve their artworks and follow Piano’s example.

Dorothy Colle, acting

PTCAO head, said the paintings would help showcase the province’s culture and encourage tourists to explore. “We hope that the paintings could trigger curiosity among tourists to visit Albay,” she said.

Piano is known for his religion-themed stained glass artworks and images of the Bicol patroness, Our Lady of Peñafrancia. He has mounted more than 30 solo exhibits and participated in over 150 group exhibitions here and abroad.

Piano has won over 10 major art competitions in the Philippines. He received the Most Outstanding Bicolano Artist award in 2009 and the Orgullo Kan Bikol Award for Visual Arts in 2011.