Pacita Abad: Door to Life

Tina Kim Gallery is pleased to present Door to Life, its third solo exhibition of works by the visionary artist Pacita Abad (1946–2004) which highlights a series of works the artist made after a trip to Yemen in the spring of 1998. For years after, Abad created artworks across scale and media that drew tremendous inspiration from the architecture and decorative arts across the country. Including the debut of the artist’s never-before-seen qamariya paintings — references to the traditional stained glass windows of Sanaa — the exhibition will bring together the multiple bodies of work that comprise the holistic Door to Life series for the first time.

Abad was a pioneering artist known for her rigorous political engagement and radical embrace of global arts and crafts practices, which she encountered throughout decades of extensive travel. Born to a politically-active family in Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines, Abad came to the United States in 1970 where she studied at Lone Mountain College in San Francisco before embarking on her decades of nomadic travel to 62 countries across Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Africa. Although she took courses at The Art Students League and the Corcoran School of Art, Abad stated, “Traveling for me is my art school.” Abad’s practice was distinctly porous, accumulating layers of material, technical, and formal influences throughout her 32-year-long career. Her practice was profoundly influenced by the artisans, seamstresses, craftspeople, journalists, and everyday people she met across her travels. Abad considered her practice to be global rather than defined by any single artistic style or national identity.