TOKYO—In the company of giants. Happening only twice a year, I was finally in Tokyo in the right month for a sumo event. Sumo, recognized as Japan’s national sport, has gained widespread popularity both within the country and globally. Local residents and international tourists eagerly flock to witness the mesmerizing displays of professional sumo wrestlers,…

What is to come… that is one thing that cannot be sculpted. Artist Impy Pilapil was all set to open her latest show in March of 2020 at Conrad Manila. In an interview before opening day, she explained the idea behind it: “My personal quest has always been to find true meaning and purpose through…

The idea that stones can speak is an ancient one. Standing stones held magical meaning for the druids or the learned class among the Celts in Europe. To this day, certain people believe they hold encoded ancient knowledge from the elder seers. Jesus himself said the very stones would cry out if his disciples were…

The marvel of the entire body of work of Impy Pilapil through over four decades is the consistency and sureness of direction, unwavering in the course that she was impelled to follow, untrammeled by sculptural styles and trends that have waylaid less determined sculptors in search of goals irrelevant to the pursuit of their art.…

At the end of their useful lives as family residences, many old houses are either simply abandoned or demolished. The more fortunate houses are given the chance to repurpose themselves by adapting to accommodate new uses. Casa Roces stands out as an excellent example of the adaptive re-use of a heritage structure. What was once…

Her every sculptural exhibition is an event, always an occasion for the exploration of her being, each show building upon the previous, not in a manner expecting drastic changes, but as in a scene unfolding an artist’s multiplicity of facets and insights, like the sea’s myriad pinpoints of light glinting in the sun. Her materials…

MANILA, Philippines – When asked by the editor of this paper to do an article on Impy Pilapil, at first I was reluctant, not sure how I could do justice to my good friend’s life story. I then realized that through the years, I had been witness to her life’s journey, and to her coming…

Interactive Walking barefoot and blindfolded over a myriad of surfaces and textures was never something I imagined myself doing until a few days ago and of all places in Ateneo University: The staging ground of the latest artistic marvel that sculptor Impy Pilapil has chosen to share with us. Her ongoing show Interactive: The 12…

There is a transcendental quality to the recent and vibrant creations of artist Impy Pilapil. Collectively, they evoke glimpses into the artist’s self-discovery and personal Odyssey, a Silk Road voyage from abstract serigraphs to dazzling, three-dimensional sculptures in glass and stone. What they all do have in common is the Taoist fusion of the elements:…