Tribute to Pacita Abad
By: Jessica Robas
"I have always believed that an artist has a
special obligation to remind society of its social responsibilities."
- Pacita Abad
Pacita Abad (1946-2004) was born in Basco, Batanes, a
small island in the northernmost part of the Philippines. Pacita
holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines
and a Master of Arts degree from the University of San Francisco
in California. She studied painting at the Corcoran School of
Art in Washington, D.C. and the Art Students League of New York
City.
Her work had been featured in solo exhibitions at the National
Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.), Hong Kong Arts
Center (Hong Kong), Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art (Thailand),
Alton de Chavon (Dominican Republic), Hadeland Museum (Norway),
Museum of Philippine Art and the Metropolitan Museum in Manila;
and in numerous group exhibitions in New York, Japan, Cuba, Oslo,
London and Rome among others, the press release said. She was
the first Asian woman to receive the Excellence 2000 Award from
the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce presented at the
National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. in 1995.
Having travelled widely throughout her life, Pacita
has for the past 10 years been living in Indonesia and Singapore.
She was only the fourth artist to participate in Singapore Tyler
Print Institute’s (STPI) Visiting Artists Programme following
Frank Stella, Donald Sultan and Chua Ek Kay.
She died on Dec. 7, 2004 in Singapore, after a bout
with lung cancer. She was 58.
Pacita is famous for her use of vibrant colours and bold shapes
which complements her jubilance and passion for life. She is best
remembered for her principal medium, the trapunto, the art of
joining together and quilting pieces of plain or printed cloth
with an embossed design.
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Filipina:
A Racial Identity Crisis (1992)
Medium: Lithograph with pulp painting.
Size: 107 x 76.2cm.
Singapore Art Museum |
Trapo (1984)
acrylic,oil, broken mirrors, painted cloth
stitched on padded canvas, 205 x 135 cm.
Collection of the National museum of Contempirary Art, Seoul,
Korea |
Sampaguita Girl
(1985)
oil on canvas, 125 x 88cm
Collection Ramon Villegas, Manila, Philippines |
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Pacita
Abad's work on the Alkaff Bridge in Singapore |
Multiculturalism |
Gatot Kaca's House |
Education
University of the Philippines, B.A.
1968
University of San Francisco, M.A. 1972
Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C. 1975
Art Students League of New York, 1978
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2004 "Circles In My Mind",
Cultural Center of the Philippines (Main Lobby)
2001 "The Sky is the Limit", Finale
Art Gallery, The Art Center, SM Megamall
1999 "Door To Life," travel exhibit
to Artfolio, Singapore, Hiraya Gallery, Manila; Bomani Gallery,
San Francisco; Gibson Art Gallery, Washington, D.C., (catalogue)
1998 "Abstract Emotions," National
Museum, Jakarta (catalogue)
"Abstract Emotions," Hiraya Gallery,
Manila
1996 Artists & Community, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts,
Virginia Beach, Virginia
"Exploring the Spirit," National Gallery
of Indonesia (catalogue)
1995 "Thinking Big," curated by Cora
Alvina, Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Artists & Community, The National Museum in the Arts, Washington,
D.C.
"Twenty-Four Flowers," Liongoren Art
Gallery, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
"Postcards from the Edge," Galleria
Duemila, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
1994 Artist + Community: "People of Color: The Immigrants
Experience", National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington
D.C. Curator: Angela Adams, with catalogue
"Assaulting the Deep Sea", curated
by Mark Scala, Art Museum of Western Virginia (brochure)
"The American Dream," curated by Angela
Adams, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
(brochure)
"Assaulting the Deep Sea," curated
by Deborah McLeod, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport, Virginia
"Wayang, Irian and Sumba," National
Museum, Jakarta (catalogue)
1993 "Flower Paintings," Philippine
Center, New York
Mask Paintings, Frostburg University, Frostburg, Maryland
People of Color: The Immigrant Experience, National Museum of
Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
1992 "Abstract Emotions," Philippine
Center, New York
1991 Small Paintings, Luz Gallery, Makati City,
Philippines
"Wild At Art," Ayala Museum, Makati
City, Philippines
Pacita Abad & Edgar Sorrells-Adawale, Pyramid Atlantic, MD
1990 Recent Paintings, Philippine Center, New
York
Masks of my Imagination, Astraea Gallery, Washington
D.C.
1989 "Trapunto Paintings," Franz Bader
Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Pacita Abad, Martin Luther King Library, Washington D.C.
1988 "Asian Abstractions," Fables Gallery,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Canvas Collages, Martin Luther King Library,
Washington D.C.
1987 Asian African Images, International Monetary Fund, Washington,
D. C.
Paper Collages, Foxley Leach Gallery, Washington,
D. C.
Underwater Paradise, Philippine Center, New York
1986 "Oriental Abstractions," curated
by Michael Chen, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong (catalogue)
Assaulting the Deep Sea, installation show, Ayala
Museum
1985 "Batanes - Landscape and People,"
curated by Ray Albano, Cultural Center of the Philippines
1984 "A Painter Looks at the World," curated
by Arturo Luz, Museum of Philippine Art, Manila, (catalogue)
1982 "Scenes from the Upper Nile,"
curated by Amy Lighthill, Boston University Art Gallery, Massachusetts
(catalogue)
City Scenes of Old Sto. Domingo, Walters Gallery, Wellesley, Massachusetts
1981 Portraits of Cambodia, Boston University
Art Gallery, Boston Curator: Chatvichai Prommadhatvethi
"Streets of Santo Domingo," Curated
by Isabel Caceres de De Castro, Altos de Chavon, La Romana, Dominican
Republic (catalogue)
1980 Portraits of Kampuchea, Bhirasri Institute
of Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand Curator: Chatvichai Prommadhatvethi
"Portraits of Cambodia," curated by
Daeng Chatvichai Promadhathavedi, Bhirasri Institute of Modern
Art, Bangkok, Thailand
People of Wau, New England Center for Contemporary Art, Conn.
1979 "Recent Paintings of the Sudan,"
curated by Abdullah Shibrain, Exhibition Hall, Khartoum, Sudan
People of Wau, The Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
1978 "Paintings of Bangladesh," Dhaka,
Bangladesh
Awards and Grants:
1998 "Filipina Firsts:
a compendium of 100 Filipino women who have excelled in their
fields," sponsored by Philippine American Foundation in Manila
and Washington, D.C.
Likha Award, in recognition of outstanding achievement
in the visual arts in the United States
1995 Excellence 2000 Awards for the Arts, given
by the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce in Washington,
D.C.
1994-95 Visiting Artist Fellow, Brandywine Workshop,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1993-94 Artist Workshop Program, Virginia Museum
of Fine Art
1993 Resident Artist, OPUS B, a production company
in Maryland creating collaborations between elders, inner-city
youth, and artists
1992-98 Resident Fellow, Virginia Center for
Creative Arts, Sweetbriar, VA
1991-92 GIA Grant, D.C. Commission on the Arts
1991 Artist-in-residence, Gwendolyn Caffritz
Award, Pyramid Atlantic, Maryland
Artist-in-residence, Rutgers Center for Innovative
Printmaking, New Jersey
1990-95 MetroArt II Award, Mural installed at
Metro Center, Washington, D.C. Washington, D. C.
1989-90 Visual Artist Fellowship, National Endowment
for the Arts
1988-89 Visiting Artist Program, New York State
Council on the Arts
1988-92 GIA Grant, D.C. Commission on the Arts
1984 TOYM Award, Most Outstanding Artist in the
Philippines
Artist-in-residence, Altos de Chavon, Dominican
Republic
Samples of Pacita Abad's Later Work
"I love colours, it's my obsession. We should
have more colours so we can enjoy life and loosen up. I think
it's important when you walk in and you smile or you just get
angry, at least you get a reaction to it." - Pacita
Abad
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Prints |
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Close
to you, Enki's whirl 2003
30-colour, stencilled coloured paper
pulp, lithograph, silkscreen, photo relief, photo intaglio,
TGL handmade white paper, 3-D collage embellishments on
handmade STPI paper.
81.3 x 106.7 x 3.5 cm. (32 x 42 x 1.75 in.)
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I'm up and down
like a yo-yo 2003
23-colour, coloured paper pulp, lithograph,
woodcut, fabric on shaped handmade STPI paper.
101.6 x127.0 cm. (40 x 50 in.)
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Paper
Pulp Work |
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Exciting
times 2003
16-coloured paper pulp, mixed media collage
on handmade STPI paper. 132.1 x 167.6 cm. (52 x 66 in.)
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Red is my middle
name 2003
26-coloured paper pulp on handmade STPI paper.
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Links: www.pacitaabad.com
References: Features the Biography, Work and
Interviews given by renowed international artist Pacita Abad http://www.geocities.com/art_hritis/
