Description
Published alongside the first major retrospective of Pacita Abad’s work, an exhibition that originally opened in 2023 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, this book explores the fascinating, 30-year career of the innovative artist. Pacita Abad (1946-2004) was born in Batanes, Philippines, and moved to the United States in 1970. Throughout her life, she traveled to and lived in dozens of countries across six continents, which greatly influenced her work. This book offers a comprehensive look into the artist’s practice and her signature technique. Inspired by her travels and global textile traditions, the artist created the “trapunto” technique, which means “to quilt” or “to embroider” in Italian. Instead of stretching her painted canvases on wood frames, Pacita Abad stitched and stuffed the canvases using a range of materials. She also combined fabrics, beads, shells, or mirror pieces with the paintings, creating a sculptural effect.
This exhibition catalog immerses readers into the captivating world created by Pacita Abad, with more than 100 works presented in full-color illustrations. Pacita Abad also features new research and texts by Victoria Sung, Pio Abad, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Ruba Katrib, Nancy Lim, Matthew Villar Miranda, and Xiaoyu Weng. Additionally, the book contains archival materials and artworks that have never been seen or published before.






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