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FeedHawaiian at Art
Spirit, Light, and Color
Kathryn Wilder
(page 1 of 2)
Photography by Jason MooreBefore I enter the Wailuku studio I am met with smells reminiscent of my grandfather: turpentine and oil paint. All that’s missing is the smoke of Camel cigarettes and the physical incarnation. When I step into the large, clean room, at first I think I am alone, but soon find myself among spirits seen and unseen. Even the paintings of ti have spirit—light and color and energy. Later I will learn that painter Philip Sabado and his wife, Christine, were around the corner in their air-conditioned office, but for the moment I enjoy the quiet company of my long-passed grandfather and the kupuna (elders) who inspire Philip’s work.
Red ti, green ti, taro. A mallard swimming in a lo‘i (taro patch); a boy in an outrigger fishing canoe; honu, Hawai‘i’s green sea turtle, in the blue-green water. In one painting a double-hulled canoe approaches, the royalty on board draped in yellow-feathered capes, the line of red down the middle of their helmets striking in the light. Three additional ali‘i await their arrival on land. I do, too, before moving slowly on to a huge canvas standing sentinel in the corner. A canoe sits in the foreground; behind, spanning over a quarter of the canvas, a face emerges. I exit the studio quietly, holding canvas visions in my heart, happy to have had this private viewing.
The next time I visit, the studio bustles with activity as Philip’s students, many of them from Kaunoa Senior Center, put finishing touches on their day’s work and clean up. My mother, daughter of my grandfather the painter, has joined me. Christine Sabado, Philip’s wife of 37 years, ushers us into the office I didn’t see before; our eyes wander the walls, experiencing layers of color and story as we absorb the rich oil paintings of old Hawai‘i.
Philip joins us, speaking modestly of his impressive education. The son of parents who emigrated from the Philippines in the 1930s, Philip was born and raised on Moloka‘i. After serving in the Army, he pursued a career in art. He met Christine at the Honolulu Academy of Art; eventually they moved to Los Angeles, where Philip continued his education at the Art Center in Pasadena, Otis College of Art and Design, and the Columbia School of Design in Paris.
Eight years later, Philip was well on his way to a successful career in commercial art and had been offered a promotion to art director in an esteemed New York firm. He and Christine were contemplating the move when they took a little trip to Las Vegas, where Philip ran into an old friend whose daughter was performing at a ho‘olaule‘a (celebration). As Philip watched the young woman dance kahiko, the lights low, the movements of the ancient hula precise and strong, he knew that he had to make the shift from commercial to fine art, from L.A. back to Hawai‘i. Christine, carrying their fourth child, had wanted all their babies to be born in Hawai‘i, so there was no protest from her, despite the loss of economic
