Revolutionary by Toym Imao
Philosophy & Practice
The art of the Imao family is firmly rooted within Asian indigenous traditions: As part of the way they live. Which is why the family surround themselves with objects which they created and with people who share the same creative spirit. They did not commodify their art – something Toym retains as an artist and a person.
Toym was given a lot of good advice along the way but it basically boils down to:
Opening yourself up to the signs from the universe and appreciating happy accidents, sometimes serendipitously, even if it is an obstacle or a handicap. You work around it or find solutions to it. Acknowledge the handicap with the kind of work that you do.
His mentors somehow gave him the idea that it is better to image imperfections, rather than perfection, in his work. The imperfections, although nuanced, make it more relatable to a lot of people, would draw more people because we live surrounded by imperfection. If you do notice it and somehow image it in your work, it is one way of acknowledging the limitations of the human ability. Art has always been very powerful in reflecting the truth, not an idealised state.
In turn, Toym tells his students:
Find your own space, create your own space and not try to win over access to the space of others. People will invite you over. Be truthful to your own narratives.
In this day and age, it is easy to conjure beautiful images with today’s technology. So where does that leave the artist? You must strengthen your abilities to come up with narratives, that is the only way you can give gravitas to the kind of work that you do. These stories should come from you and not something else that you think that people would like. Be a storyteller.
Mother and Child: The Sulu Swim Series
The Sulu Swim Series is something Toym has been working on for at least seven years. An homage to his parents, Toym always tries to present the images based on the stories he heard from his mother and his father’s endless fascination with fishes, recalling the richness of the Sulu Sea, where his father lived as a boy.
The faceless mother is from his mother’s experience: She was orphaned at nine years old and adopted by relatives. Slowly, as she grew up, the memory of her parents started to fade away. The blanked face is Toym’s tribute to his mother trying to imagine how her parents would have looked like.
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