I have one million things to say



Installation at Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay



Working at STPI



Pacita's Painted Bridge


  

2000 - 2004
Pacita moved to Singapore after living for seven years in Indonesia. During her six week trip to Rajasthan, India, she was inspired by the richness, texture and color, and began work on her "Sky is the Limit" series.
Later she held solo exhibitions of the series and traveled to the Openings in Singapore, Amsterdam, Manila; and Finland.

During her visit to the U.S. in late 2001, Pacita was diagnosed with lung cancer and was operated on at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. After her release from the hospital, Pacita returned home to Singapore for further medical treatment and began work on a series of large paintings called "Endless Blues".

Between her months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments at National University Hospital in Singapore, Pacita traveled to Kerala, India and to Beijing and Shanghai, and held solo exhibition of her "Endless Blues" paintings in Singapore, Norway and Finland.

In 2003 Pacita was selected for a three-month Visiting Artist Programme at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), produced "Circles in My Mind", a book documenting the production of her 56 mixed media paper works and later held a solo exhibition of her "Circles in My Mind" series in Singapore and Los Angeles.

Pacita began to experience physical difficulties, but pushed ahead to complete her upcoming artistic commitments. Medical results showed that the cancer has spread to her brain and spinal canal.

Pacita then conceived of the idea to paint the 55-meter long Alkaff Bridge spanning the Singapore River. After approvals were sought from relevant government agencies, it took seven weeks to paint the 230 ton, 55-meter long and 35-meter high Bridge by applying six base colors; 2,350 circle stencils; hand painting each circle stencil using 46 colors; and painting the railings with additional circles. While working on the Bridge Pacita underwent radiotherapy treatment every morning as an outpatient, and then went to work on the Bridge immediately afterwards. It was inaugurated in January 2004 as Singapore's First "Art Bridge".

Back in her studio, Pacita continued to work on a new series called "Obsession" of small and medium-sized paintings on paper and cardboard, and produced a book featuring her series of paintings. Pacita's medical condition continued to deteriorate, but she painted feverishly and traveled for short visits to Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

She also participated in SingArt, "A Brush with Lions" along with 59 other SingArtists and painted "Simba".

Later in 2004 Pacita became partially paralyzed, but continued to paint and traveled to Manila to meet with family members. Though she was confined to a wheelchair, Pacita opened her solo exhibition, "Circles in My Mind” in Manila. She then traveled to her studio in Batanes, but her health forced her to return to Singapore and enter the hospital, where she passed away a few months later.

A wind-swept hill in Tukon, next to “Fundacíon Pacita”, is where Pacita, one of Asia’s foremost contemporary painters, who touched so many people around the world with her rainbow of colors, exuberant smile, booming laughter, boundless energy and unabashed enthusiasm for life and art, is now at rest. Pacita Abad, the multicolored, Ivatan gypsy artist, traveled around the world and found home overlooking the South China Sea on her beloved island of Batanes.



Introduction
1946 - 1969
1970 - 1977
1978 - 1992
1993 - 1999
2000 - 2004