The Vargas Museum begins its 2012 calendar with the exhibition Sandata by Lirio Salvador on 19 January 2012 at 4 in the afternoon. The exhibition will include old and recent works interpreted as ‘weapons of sound constructions’ by an artist working with sound, performance, and assemblage. It will open with a performance by Elemento, an experimental sound group founded by Salvador.

Salvador utilizes everyday and industrial materials such as bowls, bicycle gears, stainless steel pipes, utensils, and discards to form musical instruments. Wanting to own a guitar, he improvised his first stringed instrument when he was a teenager with meager resources. This innovation has become part of his life-long artistic process. Carefully composing these elements to craft pieces that are both decorative and modern, the artist distills the notion of the everyday by reconstructing seemingly banal objects into new forms, translating their meanings. Sensitive to the visual, auditory, and tactile aspects, Salvador and the collective Elemento opens up possibilities for contemporary artistic expressions through the generation of experimental music with these instruments, including those produced with home-made synthesizers and amplifiers.

Lirio Salvador was born in 1968. He graduated with a degree in Fine Arts at the Technological University of the Philippines. From 2006, his works have been shown in international art fairs such as Pulse Los Angeles, Scope Basel, Switzerland, India Art Summit, Hong Kong International Art Fair, Beijing Art Fair, Bridge Art Fair New York, Dubai Art Fair among many others. In 2011, Salvador was given a grant by the Asian Cultural Council (ACC). Elemento has performed in a number of art spaces in Manila. In 2011, the collective performed in the Art Science Museum, Singapore.