Nacion x Bidibidi

Visual artists Francis Nacion and Bernadette Delos Santos, commonly known as Bidibidi, collaborate in their latest exhibition at the Art Lounge Manila.

Images provided by Art Lounge Manila, The Podium
September 14, 2023

If like attracts like, it is then only a matter of time for visual artists Francis Nacion and Bernadette Delos Santos, commonly known as Bidibidi, to work together for besides exhibiting under Art Lounge Manila, both gravitate to portraying the good in life.  

Francis Nacion has been exhibiting for more than a decade. His works are recognizable for the brightly colored half-faced characters often portrayed in genres of happy and contented people harvesting bountiful harvests, families spending time together at home, romantic serenades, and friends having fun; bringing the subjects of Amorsolo and his ilk to the contemporary.  His works are meticulously worked with sgraffito (etched or scratched on the wet oil paint) to create fantastic patterns on clothes and similar open surfaces imitating beautiful embroidery or textile patterns.  

Bidibidi, on the other hand, prefers to paint colorful flowers, but has also what she calls an “artivist” practice of including underemployed farmers wives into her social enterprise by providing original embroidery patterns which they then interpret, simultaneously providing much needed livelihood to them, and preserving the tradition which her community in Ba’ao, Camarines Sur, was once famous for, and through her intervention, again.

“My mother loved sewing. Bidibidi’s practice reminds me of her, and by collaborating with her, I get to honor my mother in a roundabout way,” says Francis Nacion. “Her works also remind me of the vibrancy of my home province of Aklan, with its ati-atihan,” he adds.

“I am overwhelmed,” says Bidibidi after the first meeting that brought them to talk about the collaboration. “Francis is an established artist, a master in the making, and for him to notice what we do is not just a compliment of the highest order but an affirmation that what we do is like what his paintings do: they bring joy and uplift the spirit.”

The collaboration of Nacion x Bidibidi, though unexpected from the different mediums they use, is intuitive and seamless. Both celebrate the hallmarks of Filipino temperament and culture, as Amorsolo and genre artists have before them: the inclination for contentment, joy, skilled work, and close familial and communal ties.  They celebrate what is good in our culture, and remind us of what truly matter.

“Nacion x Bidibidi” will be on view from September 2-16, 2023 at Art Lounge Manila - The Podium at the heart of Ortigas center. The artists’ reception is on September 10, 6pm, same venue. 

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