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Mar 06
2009
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I was in a transition, from cinema to television. The compensation was fine but animation gave me a different perspective about multi-media. But I was hesitant because I knew then that if I left television, I won't be able to return. Animation was for me and still is a new frontier where anything was, is and will be possible. The decision making was staggering until I saw a documentary about this artist named Pacita Abad. The documentary showed, in a break of the wind, a refreshing spirit of struggle, journey and anticipation. I was drawn by her created images. I could not tell why. I called it mesmirizing swirls of colors that delighted the anticipating mind. Ha?, sounds weird, yes, but after years of manipulating images through words, her works were, as shown in the documentary, brave forecasts of possibilities as imagined by one in a collective plane.
Her works embarked me on a journey in animation. I accepted the job which was for a year and learned so many things. What seemed to be years of tv writing, it was a matter of light speed deployed in a constant meow of a cat. Now, I am doing my on thing within the mold of a collective. Pushing the limits of original content and open sourced animation science.
I want to share the same experience with you all, fellow animation professionals, and introduce to you such a remakable woman.
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http://www.pacitaabad.com/ ( source of the articles below)
Pacita Abad (1946-2004) was born in Basco, Batanes, a small island in the northernmost part of the Philippines, between Luzon and Taiwan. Her more-than-thirty-year painting career began when she journeyed to the United States to undertake graduate studies. After that trip, Pacita never stopped traveling or painting. She studied painting at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. and The Art Students League in New York City, and then started to “paint the globe”, living on 5 different continents and working in more than 80 countries. Pacita’s extensive travels to exotic destinations like Guatemala, Mexico, India, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and Indonesia had a major impact on her life and art, and were the inspiration for many ideas, techniques and materials in her paintings.
Pacita’s painting is characterized by constant change, experimentation and development from the 1970’s, right up until her passing. Her early paintings were primarily figurative socio-political works of people and primitive masks. Another series was large scale paintings of underwater scenes, tropical flowers and animal wildlife. Pacita’s most extensive body of work, however, is her vibrantly, colorful abstract work - many very large scale canvases, but also a number of small collages - on a complete range of materials from canvas and paper to bark cloth, metal, ceramics and glass. A disciplined and prolific painter, Pacita created over 3,500 artworks and even painted a 55-meter long bridge in Singapore and covered it with 2,350 multicolored circles.
Pacita constantly experimented with ideas that moved her beyond the confines of the traditional two-dimensional surface by developing trapunto painting, a technique of stitching and stuffing her painted canvases to give them a three-dimensional sculptural effect. She then began an almost magical process of transforming the surface of her paintings with materials, such as traditional cloth, mirrors, beads, shells, plastic buttons and other objects, which she synthesized with bold colors to create uniquely individualistic pieces of art. Underlying all of Pacita’s work is a vivacious spirit, vibrant originality and a volcano of color. Her works are all about life and pursuing dreams, they are full of purpose, nothing tentative, and they are drawn from her personal experiences. Like the artist’s life, Pacita’s paintings are a celebration of pure passion, joy and color that come straight from her heart.
A truly global artist, Pacita had over 40 solo exhibitions at museums and galleries in the U.S., Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. She also participated in more than 50 group and traveling exhibitions throughout the world. Pacita’s work is now in public, corporate and private art collections in over 70 countries.
1946 to 1969
Pacita Abad, artist, traveler and social activist, was born on October 5, 1946 in the post office in Basco, Batanes, a small Philippine island in the middle of the South China Sea, halfway between Taiwan and Luzon. In a strange way the post office was the perfect place for a spirit destined to travel the world, experience foreign cultures and bring them to others through colorful paintings.
Pacita's early life revolved around Batanes and the political and social activities of her parents, Aurora Barsana and Jorge Abad, both of whom were distinguished politicians. This background lead her into political activity herself, as well as political science studies at the University of the Philippines from which she graduated in 1967, and then attended law school for a year. Political unrest and demonstrations against the Marcos regime resulting in threats to her family, lead Pacita's parents to decide to send her overseas to the US and Spain to continue her law studies.
1970 to 1977
Pacita's plans changed radically when in 1970 on her way to Spain, she decided to stay in San Francisco. It was here that she mixed with San Francisco's art community and began to paint. Between obtaining her masters degree in Asian history at the University of San Francisco and her contact with the art world, painting gradually became not simply an incidental activity, but eventually her way of life and profession.
In 1975, Pacita began her first formal art training at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., an experience which was to have a significant influence on her development as an artist. By 1977, Pacita was in New York studying painting at the Arts Students League. After that she was ready to venture overseas with her canvas and paints.
978 - 1992
Pacita started her travels with a two-month trip to Mexico and then spent another year hitchhiking from Turkey all the way across Asia to the Philippines.
During these trips, Pacita came face to face with a range of cultures dramatically different from her own. These initial journeys later lead to longer stays in Bangladesh, Thailand, Sudan, Dominican Republic and other parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Unlike many artists of her generation, Pacita has not confined herself to a studio, as the countries in which she has traveled and worked, have in reality been her "studios".
Here, in the broadest possible cultural environments, she has studied, recorded and created and each of these stays has had a significant effect on both her attitude towards life and the strength of her paintings.
1993 - 1999
Pacita moved to Jakarta, Indonesia where she lived for the next seven years. During this time, she traveled throughout the country in Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya, and became particularly interested in the textiles from Sumba, Yogyakarta and Solo. Exhilarated by the lushness of the vegetation, Pacita spent much of her time painting colorful tropical flowers continuing her "Flower" series.
Fell in love with Java’s wayang shadow puppets, Pacita completed a series of over 110 paintings, which colorfully interpret the traditional Indonesian puppets, and designed a 144-piece wayang dinnerware collection.
Pacita held solo and participated in group exhibitions, including large trapunto paintings called "Thinking Big" in Manila, "Wayang, Irian and Sumba" in Jakarta; "Exploring the Spirit" paintings in Jakarta; "World Batik Exhibition" in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; "Talk Back! The Community Responds to the Permanent Collection" in New York; and "Filipino Artists Abroad" in Manila; and "Abstract Emotions" in Jakarta.
Lived in Jakarta during the economic and political turmoil which culminates with the violent overthrow of President Suharto, and traveled the streets of Jakarta making sketches of the trashed and burning Chinese areas of the city.
Continued to travel to the U.S., Europe and countries in the region, as well as to Yemen where she spent six weeks traveling around the country and is captivated by the brightly painted doors and stained glass gamariya windows. Begins works on her "Door to Life" series as well as her "Gamariya" series.
2000 - 2004
Pacita moved to Singapore after living for seven years in Indonesia. During her six week trip to Rajasthan, India, she was inspired by the richness, texture and color, and began work on her "Sky is the Limit" series.
Later she held solo exhibitions of the series and traveled to the Openings in Singapore, Amsterdam, Manila; and Finland.
During her visit to the U.S. in late 2001, Pacita was diagnosed with lung cancer and was operated on at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. After her release from the hospital, Pacita returned home to Singapore for further medical treatment and began work on a series of large paintings called "Endless Blues".
Between her months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments at National University Hospital in Singapore, Pacita traveled to Kerala, India and to Beijing and Shanghai, and held solo exhibition of her "Endless Blues" paintings in Singapore, Norway and Finland.
In 2003 Pacita was selected for a three-month Visiting Artist Programme at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), produced "Circles in My Mind", a book documenting the production of her 56 mixed media paper works and later held a solo exhibition of her "Circles in My Mind" series in Singapore and Los Angeles.
Pacita began to experience physical difficulties, but pushed ahead to complete her upcoming artistic commitments. Medical results showed that the cancer has spread to her brain and spinal canal.
Pacita then conceived of the idea to paint the 55-meter long Alkaff Bridge spanning the Singapore River. After approvals were sought from relevant government agencies, it took seven weeks to paint the 230 ton, 55-meter long and 35-meter high Bridge by applying six base colors; 2,350 circle stencils; hand painting each circle stencil using 46 colors; and painting the railings with additional circles. While working on the Bridge Pacita underwent radiotherapy treatment every morning as an outpatient, and then went to work on the Bridge immediately afterwards. It was inaugurated in January 2004 as Singapore's First "Art Bridge".
Back in her studio, Pacita continued to work on a new series called "Obsession" of small and medium-sized paintings on paper and cardboard, and produced a book featuring her series of paintings. Pacita's medical condition continued to deteriorate, but she painted feverishly and traveled for short visits to Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.
She also participated in SingArt, "A Brush with Lions" along with 59 other SingArtists and painted "Simba".
Later in 2004 Pacita became partially paralyzed, but continued to paint and traveled to Manila to meet with family members. Though she was confined to a wheelchair, Pacita opened her solo exhibition, "Circles in My Mind” in Manila. She then traveled to her studio in Batanes, but her health forced her to return to Singapore and enter the hospital, where she passed away a few months later.
A wind-swept hill in Tukon, next to “Fundacíon Pacita”, is where Pacita, one of Asia’s foremost contemporary painters, who touched so many people around the world with her rainbow of colors, exuberant smile, booming laughter, boundless energy and unabashed enthusiasm for life and art, is now at rest. Pacita Abad, the multicolored, Ivatan gypsy artist, traveled around the world and found home overlooking the South China Sea on her beloved island of Batanes.
