Acrylic, rick rack ribbons, painted cloth on stitched and padded canvas
270.0 x 140.0 (cm)
106.3 x 55.1 (inch)
Born 1946 in Batanes, Philippines
Died 2004 in Singapore
In the late 70’s, Abad devised a method of working she called trapunto painting. Characterized by vibrant color and accumulated material, trapunto was a technique wherein canvas is quilted and objects are layered on top: stones, sequins, buttons, mirrors, printed textile. These works traverse a diversity of subject matter from tribal masks and social realist tableaus to intricate underwater compositions. Paintings from her ‘Mask and Spirits’ series (1983- 1988) express her fascination with the mask as a motif in the various cultures she encountered. They exemplify her poetics at its most articulate, a point in her artistic practice wherein facets of her life and process – material, travel, technique – inform one another.
Pacita Abad’s oeuvre is shaped by itineration; she lived in a bewildering number of countries:
Bangladesh, Sudan, America, the Philippines. Her work reflects her trans-cultural experiences long before such discourses were felt in the art world.
帕西妲．阿巴德
1946 年出生於菲律賓巴丹
2004 年逝世於新加坡
帕西妲．阿巴德在1970年代後期自創
「簇絨」繪畫技法，特點是採用奪目耀
眼的色彩及層層堆疊的素材，將帆布縫
有柔軟襯芯後，在其表面疊上小石子、
亮片、玻璃、鈕扣、貝殼、鏡片及印花
紡織品等等。她的作品主題廣闊，包括
描繪一些部落的面具、關乎社會現實主
義的場景以至錯綜複雜的水底世界。幾
幅屬於「面具與精靈」系列（1983-1988）
的作品，展現藝術家對於曾接觸過的部
落文化中的面具圖案所帶着的一份迷
戀，並清晰地體現了她在藝術實踐中流
露的詩意美學。這種美學是她生活上與
創作過程中的各個方面，如物料、旅行
經歷及創作技巧，互相影響的結果。
阿巴德的創意源自她旅居孟加拉、
蘇丹、美國及菲律賓多國的經歷，早在
藝術界出現跨文化主題之前，她的作品
已開始呈現跨文化的探討。
