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Lot Essay
Endless Blues is a work that typifies Filipino artist Pacita Abad's artistic practice: a strong dedication to a single colour in each work
constructed from a rhythmic interweaving of slivers of batik fabric with three-dimensional stitches and vibrant oil paints. The present lot is named after her last major series of the same name, which the artist produced at a particularly challenging period in her life; on a global level, the world just experienced the tragedy of September 11, while on a personal level Abad had been diagnosed with cancer. She responded to her emotions by turning inward and spending hours in her studio, listening to blues music as she created her dynamic trapunto paintings of prismatic colours.
Endless Blues is characterized by the melancholic and nostalgic trance-like rhythm of the music that has been a constant inspiration for her: sharp bursts of viridian intersperse between the various richly patterned scraps of various fabrics lovingly sewn on by the artist, further accented by a smattering of crimsons, allowing the work to vibrate with a meaningful sense of composition despite the lack of figuration. The Endless Blues series and this work is a result of the collision of her mood at the time with an explosion of expression that she has consistently poured into her work. For Abad, Endless Blues is like the Blues, “always strong, sometimes sad, a bit nostalgic, and very colorful.”
constructed from a rhythmic interweaving of slivers of batik fabric with three-dimensional stitches and vibrant oil paints. The present lot is named after her last major series of the same name, which the artist produced at a particularly challenging period in her life; on a global level, the world just experienced the tragedy of September 11, while on a personal level Abad had been diagnosed with cancer. She responded to her emotions by turning inward and spending hours in her studio, listening to blues music as she created her dynamic trapunto paintings of prismatic colours.
Endless Blues is characterized by the melancholic and nostalgic trance-like rhythm of the music that has been a constant inspiration for her: sharp bursts of viridian intersperse between the various richly patterned scraps of various fabrics lovingly sewn on by the artist, further accented by a smattering of crimsons, allowing the work to vibrate with a meaningful sense of composition despite the lack of figuration. The Endless Blues series and this work is a result of the collision of her mood at the time with an explosion of expression that she has consistently poured into her work. For Abad, Endless Blues is like the Blues, “always strong, sometimes sad, a bit nostalgic, and very colorful.”