The Many Circles of Pacita Abad
By Roel Hoang Manipon
The Daily Tribune
September 2004

At her brother’s apartment at the 7th floor of the Royal Bay Terraces Condominium – a lugubrious, old tenement building at the corner of the United Nations and Cortada streets - Pacita Abad, prodigious and prolific painter and indefatigable traveler who has hitch hiked around the world, was feeling tired and unwell. She needed help getting up. At 57, age and sickness were trying to catch up with her. But she would not be diminished by them. The flesh may be weak, but her spirit still resonated with vibrancy and delight, manifesting in her ready smile and in the words she uttered however, her voice cracked, became hoarse and sometimes trailed off into whispers.

She sat amidst a wonderful assemblage of carpets, books, paintings and plants, illuminated by the light coming from a small terrace, which opened to a small view of a portion of the street and its uninspired buildings.

That afternoon, day before her major Philippine exhibit opens at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, she was having her favorite ensaymada, fluffy and riddled with grated cheese, and coffee with me. She was wearing a lose shirt and a skirt accented with beads and sequins, which she had put on herself. Customizing her clothes and things is a personal custom and a way of expression.

“They finally caught up with me. I was doing this in the ‘60’s. Now, everybody is doing it,” she commented.

If she were not a painter, she would be a fashion designer.

Pacita Abad has a penchant for embellishment, attaching little objects to things, transforming the ordinary into something delightful, charming and extraordinary. She delights in little objects many consider trivial – like pieces of paper, buttons, mirrors, pieces of cloth and picks them up on her travels. She is a person who belongs to a world palpable and full of sensory delights. She is in love with textures, colors and shapes for their own sake.

“Everywhere I go, I pick things up. I have trunks of it. I like to pick up things. I like materials. I’m a material girl,” she laughed.

While many have travel journals in which they can write their experiences, Abad carries a journal of common objects. She also always carries glue with which she sticks these on her notebook.

“Sometimes, I carry a glue gun, but they don’t allow them anymore in planes,” she laughed.

These objects may serve as memento, a marker in her travels. But more importantly, to Abad, they are interesting and beautiful because of their physical qualities. Most of these objects end up in her paintings.

Many of them one will find in her current “Circles in My Mind” exhibit at the CCP. This exhibit has about 80 works, distinguished by their textures and created using the techniques of lithography, relief printing, screen printing, and hand-colored paper pulp, which Abad has learned from her residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI).

One obvious characteristic of this exhibit is the use of circles, rendered with much ebullience, color and lushness. And the obvious question is: why circles? Abad would retort smilingly, why not? With everything she does, she would answer, why not? Indeed, why not.

The reason is purely and simply beauty. Such a fluid and organic shape the circle is. It can be found in abundance in our world and our lives. We use it to concretize such things as life, fate and love. In Pacita Abad’s life, the circle can serve as a grand symbol, particularly for her passion for travel.

Around the world

The wanderlust started in 1974. With $5,000, she and her American companion Jack Garrity, who would become her husband, hitchhiked their way around the world. Starting in New York, they went to Turkey, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia and then to San Francisco. The following year, they did Europe. After that, they went around the Philippines in a bagoong truck. They went wherever the bagoong truck went.

These travels inspired many series of paintings. Among her most memorable is her Cambodia series, which depicted the plight of refugees living in the borders of Thailand. The paintings, she once wrote, “speak of the pain of violent separation, the sense of hopelessness and the profound loss of identity and numbing fear that war brings.” Two large paintings from the series now adorn a room in her brother’s apartment.

From 1993 to 2002, she called Indonesia her home, inebriated with its rich culture and people. Here, she fell in love with the wayang shadow puppets and batik making, and another series of paintings was born. Now, she calls Singapore her home, a pulsating city with a deep regard for the arts. “They acknowledged me as one of their artists,” she smiled.

Artists must travel, she said. “It’s so nice to be aware.” But three months in a year, she stays in her hometown in Batanes, the wind-swept northernmost island province in the Philippines. She is currently finishing building her studio here, a chapel-like structure with a loft. All she wanted was a loft, but the only way that she could convey such structure to the builders was to describe it like a chapel. Thus, she is getting a chapel.

Most likely, her wanderlust started there the day she was born on Oct. 5, 1946. She was born in a post office in Basco, the province’s capital. One might call it destiny.

Wheel of fate

It was in one of her travels that another wheel of fate began to roll. Abad said she had no consciousness about art. In fact, she studied political science at the University of the Philippines, graduating in 1967. This course choice was likely influenced by her family. Her parents, Aurora Barsana and Jorge Abad, were distinguished politicians. After college, she went into law school. During the turbulent Marcos years, her parents decided that Pacita would continue her law studies in the United States and Spain.

Plans radically changed when Pacita was in San Francisco and became enamored with its vibrant art community. In 1975, she began her first formal art training at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and then at the Arts Students League in New York in 1977. Her first solo exhibit was sold out. In all ways, it seemed Pacita was destined to be a painter.

“Some people are like that,” she said. “You find your destiny, you go with the flow.”

Now, painting is her obsession. It is the only she thing she likes to do. She paints in the morning after her walk. She takes her lunch, has a short nap and then paints again. She paints with music -blues, hard rock, and alternative. “My painting is my ritual. It is like dominoes. Chik-chik-chik,” she said. She paints until she painted a bridge.

During her residency at the STPI, she would walk in front of the building, and have coffee at the coffee shop. A river ran in front of the institute and the Alkaff Bridge spanned it.

“I want to paint this bridge,” she blurted, and went to France for her artist residency.

After a few weeks, she received a letter telling her she could paint the bridge. STPI officials had arranged the permissions. Nippon Paint donated 5,000 pails of paint. She just used 150. After eight weeks and 10 men helping her, she finished painting the bridge on December 2003. The bridge was colorful with many circles on it.

“They (the Singaporeans) love it. At first, they didn’t know what to make of it. It is so colorful. Now, it is a tourist attraction,” Abad laughed.

The obvious question is why paint a bridge? The answer, of course, is why not? It is Pacita Abad’s energy and zest for the world that most likely moved her to paint a bridge. Her suffering from lung cancer could not extinguish that energy. It could only sublimate it. In the end, maybe, one may say that she has come full circle. But she has boundless, vibrant, intriguing, colorful circles.

Perhaps, someday, looking out of the terrace, she may be able to paint the uninspired buildings along United Nations Avenue. She may paint the world which God has filled with many circular things.

The best of world art comes to the Philippines

Singapore Airlines (SIA) in cooperation with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, ArtPostAsia and Galleria Duemila organized a special preview show for artist Pacita Abad, dubbed Circles in My Mind last month at the CCP Main Gallery. Singapore Airlines flew in precious artworks of Pacita Abad from Singapore for the exhibit. Singapore Airlines Cargo specializes in transporting valuable and delicate cargo.

Abad was all smiles as she acknowledged the glowing words of praise for herself and her art, from hosts SIA general manager Philippines Eugene Lee and general manager for cargo Eugene Chew. Her brother, Education Secretary Butch Abad, cited her patience in having mounted the large exhibit, which showcases over 70 pieces in lithography, relief printing, screen printing and hand-colored paper pulp. Two limited edition works of Abad were raffled off to SIA’s guests during the event. Think Twice was won by Susana Ortigas, an SIA Solitaire Passenger, and Red Dye went to Rhea Bombita of Airlift Asia, Inc., a valued SIA cargo client.

A strong supporter of the arts, Singapore Airlines also invited its Priority Passengers (PPS) to a two-day exclusive workshop on prints, paper pulp woks and paintings held last month. The workshop was facilitated by Richard Hungerford, Master Paper Maker of the world-renowned Singapore Tyler Print institute. The attendees had a chance to experiment on some of the art techniques that Abad utilizes for her artworks.

Truly one of the country’s most original artists, Abad enjoys a wide following not only in the Philippines but also in other countries including Singapore where she painted the Alkaff Bridge, now a landmark in the island state. Abad was all smiles during the heartwarming exhibit opening as she received the plaudits of grateful and admiring friends.

The Circles in My Mind exhibit runs until Oct. 31. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays to Saturdays.

“We are proud to have been instrumental in presenting Miss Abad’s works to her numerous admirers in the Philippines and helping strengthen cultural relations between the Philippines and Singapore,” Chew said.