Sandra's Mysterious World
signed and dated 1985 (lower right)
oil and mixed media on panel
55" x 36" (140 cm x 91 cm)

EXHIBITED: The Luz Gallery, Pacita and Her Friends (Curated by Arturo Luz),Makati, October 1985

LITERATURE: Garrity, Jack and the Pacita Abad Art Estate. Pacita and Her Friends(Paintings by Pacita Abad). Los Angeles: Pacita Abad Art Estate, 2017.Full-color illustration on page 47 and painting description on page 46.

León Gallery wishes to thank Mr. and Mrs. Jack Garrity for confirmingthe authenticity of this lot
PROVENANCEThe Luz Gallery



A Fine Artist and Her Amiga In Celebration of Pacita Abad’s Venice Biennale DebutDuring her 32-year artistic career Pacita Abad’s paintings were shown in more than 200 museums and galleries and site-specific venues in the United States, Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. Her works are now in museums, public, corporate and private art collections in over 70 countries. In the last few years, Pacita Abad has become arguably the most acclaimed international Filipino artist, male or female. Just to cite a few recent examples of her current fame, her work is presently included in the 2024 International Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, she has a hugely successful solo retrospective exhibition at MOMA’s Ps1 in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Pacita Abad came from a prominent Batanes political family. While studying abroad, she married her international banker husband Jack Garrity. She returned to the Philippines in the late '70's and thereafter pursued her artistic career full-time. At the time, Sandra Palou was working as Assistant Director at both the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and the Museum of Philippine Art under Arturo Luz. “Sandie” was one of the first people who recognized Pacita’s talent, which today is being explosively manifested internationally by multiple solo exhibitions in US and UK museums and at the moment inclusion in the International Pavilion of the just opened 2024 Venice Biennale. Sandra encouraged Arturo Luz to visit Pacita's studio. This was a considerable challenge as Arturo Luz, who owned the leading gallery in the Philippines at the time, had no female artist on his roster. It was a product of the times, nor was he interested in giving any Filipina artist a solo exhibition. Sandra however managed to organize a lunch in Pacita’s studio inviting Arturo and two other leading figures in the local art scene—art critic Leonidas Benesa and Anding Roces. After seriously examining her work, Arturo decided to give Pacita a solo exhibition of her Trapuntos at the Museum of Philippine Art. This was a huge success, enjoying much favorable publicity and attained one of the venue’s highest attendances. In the course of her career Pacita not only became an internationally acclaimed artist but the first female TOYM Awardee. This was indeed a ground-breaking achievement since the anagram TOYM stands for “Ten Outstanding Young Men.” In the mid-eighties, just before Jack was relocated to Jakarta, Arturo asked Pacita to do a solo exhibition at the Luz Gallery, again a first for a Filipino female artist. Pacita decided to do a portrait show of her favorite friends and artists during her stay in the Philippines. "Sandra's Mysterious World" was among the portraits prominently exhibited. The painting represents Sandra's colorful life, her involvement with the orphanage of St. Theresa, and her adventurous nature. Their friendship continued through the years, and Pacita became the godmother to Sandra's first child, Amparo. Pacita died of cancer on the 7th of December 2004 at the age of 58.