Marotte

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Pio Abad
Born Manilla, Philippines, 1983

Marotte, 2008
Ink on paper, mounted on MDF, metal leaf, vinyl & lacquer finish

Purchased in 2009 from the artist
Funded by the National Collecting Scheme for Scotland and National Fund for Acquisitions
Museum number 2009-13

Abad's work is concerned with the aesthetics of power. He has developed a rich visual language to comment on the control and collapse of totalitarian regimes.

Although the work is abstract it is recognisable as a head - indeed, the title of the work 'marotte' is the French word for fool's dummy. Meticulously drawn braids and ringlets of hair, interlaced with pearls, remind us of the powdered wigs of the Versailles court. On closer inspection they dissolve into human entrails - a metaphor for the collapse of the monarchy and for what followed.