The First Major Pacita Abad International Roadshow Begins at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis

Walker Center in Minneapolis will be hosting its first-ever retrospective on the Batanes-born nomadic artist Pacita Abad this coming April. We can expect to see more than 100 rare pieces from her decorated career. The exhibit will kickstart Abad's first extensive international roadshow to date.

“While Abad was engaged in artistic and political dialogues during her life, the depth, range, and inventiveness of her work is only now coming to prominence," wrote the Pacita Abad website. "The forthcoming presentation positions Abad within art historical narratives, providing new insights into her conceptual and aesthetic evolutions as well as the life experiences that so richly influenced her practice.”

The retrospective will be the "most comprehensive exploration" of Abad's 32-year career. Visitors will be treated to private and public collections coming from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. These include her embroidered textile pieces, self-portraits, and outfits, among others. Among the contributing parties to the exhibition are Jack Garrity, Kristi Garrity, Pio Abad, and the Pacita Abad Art Estate. After Minneapolis, it will then be traveling to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in San Francisco, MoMa PS1 in New York, and Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

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>p>pALSO READ:>pFilipino Artist Pacita Abad Is Today's Google Doodle>pThis Filipina Artist Was Away Ahead of Yayoi Kusama's Cosmic Circles>pSimply titled Pacita Abad, it is curated by Associate Curator of Visual Arts at the Walke Victoria Sung and Curatorial Fellow in Visual Arts at the Walker Matthew Villar Miranda. The Henry Luce Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation will also be supporting the show.>p"Together, the featured works showcase the energetic interplay between abstraction and figuration in Abad’s practice and illuminate her engagement with people, places, and critical issues of her time," the Walker added in a statement.>pThroughout her prolific career, Abad wound up working on six different continents, producing over 4,500 works during her lifetime. She's had more than 40 solo exhibitions, as well as 50 group and traveling showcases around the world. Her work is characterized by experimentation, vibrant color, and an acute sense of dynamism in her subjects. She covered the social and political, as well as naturalism and more.>pHer mixed media works, on the other hand, relied on various materials like circuit boards, ceramic, glass, and fabric, among others. Abad is also known for incorporating indigenous materials and techniques she'd learned from her trips in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She passed away in 2004 at just 58 years old after battling lung cancer in the final year of her life.>p

One such technique we best remember her for is "trapunto" painting, a hybrid art form where she hand-quilted her painted canvases instead of stretching them over frames. This will be the anchor of the said exhibit. Pacita Abad is said to be organized in a loose chronological order that emphasizes overlapping themes and material engagements.

“The Walker first exhibited Abad’s work in 1995 in a traveling group exhibition. It is our distinct pleasure to now—through the vision and commitment of curator Victoria Sung—present Abad’s first retrospective and to capture her singular artistry, innovative spirit, and passion for exploration,” said Mary Ceruti, the Walker’s Executive Director.

She added: “The Walker has a long history of championing and supporting underrecognized artists, and we see this exhibition as a historic moment to celebrate the life and work of an artist who so richly deserves greater examination, study, and appreciation.”

The tour will begin at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis from April 15 to September 3, 2023 before heading to the SFMoMa from October 21, 2023 to January 28, 2024; MoMA PS1 in New York from March 28 to September 2, 2024; and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto from October 12, 2024 to January 19, 2025.