Pablo Tapay Bautista is a Filipinx-American artist based in Oakland, CA. He holds a BA in Industrial Arts from San Francisco State University and an MFA in film from Columbia University. Photography empowers him to represent himself and his communities in order to reveal a more complex, dynamic, and diverse American experience. For him, photography expands our vision of the world and connects us to one another.
"I didn't choose photography; photography chose me. The camera is the perfect device for a self-described "outsider" as myself, allowing me to frame the world through the viewfinder. I fill my frames with stories of the underrepresented and other "outsiders". As a street photographer, I seek beauty in the mundane and in chance. Through my lens, the world becomes my canvas, my stage. I call my street photography "alreadymades", since I consider what I encounter on the street as everyday objects or situations. Whereas Marcel Duchamp's "readymades" addresses the significance of context of the artwork, I include time with my "alreadymades", since each photograph depicts a moment in time that has passed."
"I didn't choose photography; photography chose me. The camera is the perfect device for a self-described "outsider" as myself, allowing me to frame the world through the viewfinder. I fill my frames with stories of the underrepresented and other "outsiders". As a street photographer, I seek beauty in the mundane and in chance. Through my lens, the world becomes my canvas, my stage. I call my street photography "alreadymades", since I consider what I encounter on the street as everyday objects or situations. Whereas Marcel Duchamp's "readymades" addresses the significance of context of the artwork, I include time with my "alreadymades", since each photograph depicts a moment in time that has passed."
Group Exhibitions
2025 "Rooted", Ruth's Table, April 10- June 6, 2025, San Francisco, CA
"Metaphors of Recent Times: A Dialogue of the Personal, Political, and Cultural"
January 16, 2025-June 13, 2025, San Francisco City Hall
"Citizen Joy"
January 17, 2025- February 9, 2025, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica
2024 "Joy" National Juried Exhibition 2024, Online
MarinMOCA Inaugural Northern California Open, Novato, CA
Art for AIDS 2024, UCSF Alliance Health Project Annual Fundraiser, San Francisco, CA
Hospitality House's 39th Annual Art Auction, San Francisco, CA
19th National Juried Exhibition, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Artists' Interpretations: Buildings & Structures, Tiburon, CA
I. We. They. Celebrations of Gender, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA
Livermore Art Association, The Bothwell Arts Center, Livermore, CA
National Council of Aging- Aging Well for All: Celebrating Our Colors & Diversity, Online
2023-2024 The de Young Open, The de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
2018 Hospitality House Auction at Minnesota Street Projects, San Francisco, CA
2017-2019 SFMOMA Artists Gallery Fort Mason San Francisco, CA
2017 Art for AIDS Auction at the Metreon, San Francisco, CA
2016 Hotbed Benefit Art Exhibit, Tiburon, CA
Publications
2021/2022 "Sapatos" (short story), Milvia Street Art & Literary Journal
Spring 2021 "Shelter in Place Self Portrait v1.0" (Intaglio) for Forum Magazine
July 2019 “Sofia EV 5/11” (Intaglio) , Forum Blog for Forum Magazine
May 2019 “Akin EV 1/12” (Intaglio) , Forum Blog for Forum Magazine
Fall 2017 “Selfie Portrait 2.0” (Intaglio) , Forum Magazine
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