Biography
Pio Abad (b. Manila, Philippines 1983) is a Filipino artist living and working in London. Selected solo exhibitions include KADIST, San Francisco, California (2019); Art Basel Encounters, Hong Kong (2017); and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney (2016). Recent group shows include the ifa Gallery and Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; and the Whitechapel Gallery, London (both 2021); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2020); the Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai; Artspace, Sydney; Bellas Artes Projects, Manila; and the Honolulu Biennial, Hawaii (all 2019); the Museum of Modern Art, Moscow (2018). Abad has also won the Fernando Zobel Prize for Visual Art (2015). As part of the Ashmolean NOW exhibition series, where contemporary artists are invited to create new work inspired by the Ashmolean’s historical collections, the second featured new drawings and objects by Abad, entitled To Those Sitting in Darkness in 2024. The Contemporary Art Society enabled the acquisition of three in the series of 14 of 1897.76.36.18.6 (2023) for the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford.
