A Passion to Paint; Celebrating the Colorful World of Pacita Abad

Sixteen years after her death, the legendary Philippine artist Pacita Abad still has a million things to tell, distilled into works at the world’s best online art gallery in the USA. Abad’s global vision, embodied in her acceptance of a range of styles and topics, serves as a timely reminder for us to reflect on differences between races and cultures in the present era.

Charming Display of Paintings at Online Art Gallery USA

 

Through the vivid monumental paintings, one feels overwhelmed by the abstract or geometric shapes and the multitude of colors surrounding. On visiting the online website, visitors are welcomed by geometric and figurative works, consisting of an eclectic mixture of linear and circular forms that combine to represent a mask. One gets even more captivated by the paintings that depict sea creatures in overwhelming seascapes detail.

Special Artifacts and Experiments in Abad’s Artwork

Abad experimented with quilting trapunto on her canvasses, glasses, buttons, shells, mirrors to printed textiles in the late 1970s and early 1980s, offering her otherwise flat paintings a subtle texture when viewed from a distance. The display system of hanging works away from walls shows the back of the paintings, with surface stitches. Abad recalled her interest in “creating the surface,” primarily by constructing it, whether it’s just painting or inserting mirrors, shells, and beads. And layer artifacts over her quilted content. The materials range from stones, sequins, and the use of various indigenous materials is particularly important to her, most likely influenced by her extensive travel experience in places like Bangladesh, Sudan, Jakarta, Boston, Washington D.C., Manila, Yemen, and Singapore. Pacita Abad gathered references from these different geographies, each filled with their specific artifacts and histories, and used them in their projects, such as ink-brush painting in Korea, batik painting in Indonesia, etc.

Pacita Abad’s Contribution to Art & Culture

 

In the wide range of subjects she covered, the influence of Abad’s travel experiences is also seen in. Abad responded indirectly to problems of colonialism and nationhood by featuring events of similar circumstances in other countries, ranging from refugees in Cambodia to Yemeni homes regarding riots, and the loss of identity of Laotian immigrants. She was particularly concerned with the immigration issue. By incorporating multi-ethnic elements, she strived for an inclusive and global vision.

Artistic Efforts to Break Down Discrimination

 

She was open to inequality and hardship in her artistic efforts as a female artist of color. Perhaps influenced by her own experience, her attempts to break down walls between nations and ethnicities are even more admirable, and now serve as a turning stone for us to recreate minority artists’ art histories.

Our Approach

This pluralistic approach to image-making through cultures, backgrounds, and styles underpins Abad’s decades-long work. Focusing on her portrayals of immigrant experiences and her commitment to diverse cultural traditions, The No. 1 online art gallery USA offers an idiosyncratic perspective on transnational art and culture.