Door made of straw I, 1998
Oil, acrylic, printed cloth, dyed canvas stitched on straw mat
89 x 53 1/8 in. (226 x 135 cm)
Of particular interest to Abad during her time in Yemen were the intricately painted doors she encountered in cities and villages such as Sanaa, Manakha, and Al Mahwit. The artist was drawn to these decorative doors, painted in strong, loud, pure colors, softened by the sun and sand and adorned with colorful symbols, hearts, flowers, and Islamic verses. She also appreciated the striking parallels between Yemen’s earthen and stone architecture and the traditional stone houses of her native Batanes. Traveling through the country with sketchbooks and a camera in hand, Abad captured its striking architecture, focusing on the designs and colors of the doors and windows that most captivated her attention. Upon returning to her studio in Jakarta, these sketches and photographs inspired the creation of the vibrant Door to Life series.
This work specifically comes from her Door Made of Straw series—previously exhibited at the 13th Gwangju Biennale: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning in Gwangju, Korea (2021) and being exhibited in North America for the first time. In these works Abad rejects the traditional surfaces of canvas or paper, instead choosing to paint onto woven straw mats like those she saw woven by Yemeni women in Hodeidah. She then layered and stitched her artwork with patterned batik and ikat textiles, sourced in Indonesia. The weave of the mats provides a structured grid that echoes the architectural forms in the paintings, but the geometries of the work retain a fluidity and tactility indebted to their hand-crafted nature and their roots in practices that precede twentieth-century aesthetic movements.
Exhibitions
13th Gwangju Biennale: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, Gwangju, Korea, April 1—May 9, 2021. Curated by Defne Ayas and Natasha Ginwala.
Literature Pacita Abad: Door to Life (Jakarta, Indonesia: Pacita Abad, 1999).
Black and White Stones in old Sanaa Large III, 1999
Oil on canvas
42 x 24 x 2 1/2 in
106.7 x 61 x 6.3 cm
Of particular interest to Abad during her time in Yemen were the intricately painted doors she encountered in cities and villages such as Sanaa, Manakha, and Al Mahwit. The artist was drawn to these decorative doors, painted in strong, loud, pure colors, softened by the sun and sand and adorned with colorful symbols, hearts, flowers, and Islamic verses. She also appreciated the striking parallels between Yemen’s earthen and stone architecture and the traditional stone houses of her native Batanes. Traveling through the country with sketchbooks and a camera in hand, Abad captured its striking architecture, focusing on the designs and colors of the doors and windows that most captivated her attention. Upon returning to her studio in Jakarta, these sketches and photographs inspired the creation of the vibrant Door to Life series.
Literature
Pacita Abad: Door to Life (Pacita Abad Art, 1999).
Qamariya 43, 2000
Oil on paper
18 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 1 in. (47.6 x 45.1 x 2.5 cm)
Exhibited for first time since their creation, these nine paintings reference the traditional stained glass windows of Sanaa, called qamariya (meaning “moon-like” or “of the moon” in Arabic). These double-sided works are painted onto repurposed stencils that Abad collected from qamariya workshops in Sanaa. Her vibrant brushwork in the negative space complements the stained glass windows the stencils helped produce, creating an extended collaboration between the artist and the craftspeople who shared their materials with her. For Abad, painting the everyday doors and windows of Yemen was a way to show the outside world a vividly colorful perspective of the country’s rich cultural heritage.
Exhibited for first time since their creation, these nine paintings reference the traditional stained glass windows of Sanaa, called qamariya (meaning “moon-like” or “of the moon” in Arabic). These double-sided works are painted onto repurposed stencils that Abad collected from qamariya workshops in Sanaa. Her vibrant brushwork in the negative space complements the stained glass windows the stencils helped produce, creating an extended collaboration between the artist and the craftspeople who shared their materials with her. For Abad, painting the everyday doors and windows of Yemen was a way to show the outside world a vividly colorful perspective of the country’s rich cultural heritage.
Installation view of Suki Seokyeong Kang: Our Spring at Tina Kim Gallery, New York (March 12–April 25, 2026). Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Tina Kim Gallery, photo by Hyunjung Rhee.
Installation view of Suki Seokyeong Kang: Our Spring at Tina Kim Gallery, New York (March 12–April 25, 2026). Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Tina Kim Gallery, photo by Hyunjung Rhee.
Installation view of Suki Seokyeong Kang: Our Spring at Tina Kim Gallery, New York (March 12–April 25, 2026). Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Tina Kim Gallery, photo by Hyunjung Rhee.
Installation view of Suki Seokyeong Kang: Our Spring at Tina Kim Gallery, New York (March 12–April 25, 2026). Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Tina Kim Gallery, photo by Hyunjung Rhee.
Installation view of Suki Seokyeong Kang: Our Spring at Tina Kim Gallery, New York (March 12–April 25, 2026). Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Tina Kim Gallery, photo by Hyunjung Rhee.
Jeong — step #16
2023-2024
Color on silk mounted on Korean Hanji paper, thread, wood frame
Dimensions: 43 3/8 x 31 1/2 x 2 3/8 inches (110 x 80 x 6 cm)
Photo: Sangtae Kim
Courtesy Tina Kim Gallery and Studio Suki Seokyeong Kang
April 30 – June 20, 2026
Opening reception: Thursday, April 30, 6–8pm
We are 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 layersof 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.
March 12 – April 25, 2026 Opening Reception: Thursday, March 12, 6-8pm Poetry and Musical Performance Opening Event: Thursday, March 12 at 6:30pm (kindly RSVP) Dear Suki: Poetry Gathering Closing Event: Saturday, April 25 at 12pm (kindly RSVP)
We are honored to present a solo exhibition of the late Korean artist Suki Seokyeong Kang (1977–2025), Our Spring, on view from March 12 through April 25, 2026. Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the artist’s untimely passing, this exhibition stands as both a memorial and a celebration of her singular artistic vision. The presentation brings together significant sculptural and two-dimensional works from the last decade of the artist’s life and will mark the New York debut of pieces from some of Kang’s most influential series. The exhibition follows Kang’s critically acclaimed surveys at the Leeum Museum of Art (2023) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2025), highlighting the enduring and global resonance of her practice.
Collectively, these works showcase the artist’s profound consideration of human existence through her artistic practice, which honors the precarious yet beautiful balance required to stand alone, while also acknowledging the necessity of leaning on one another. This exhibition serves as a tribute to Suki Seokyeong Kang’s legacy—a reminder of her commitment to creating spaces where the past and present, and the individual and the collective can coalesce into a harmonious equilibrium.
Tina Kim Gallery is widely recognized for its unique programming that emphasizes international contemporary artists, historical overviews, and independent curatorial projects. The gallery has built a platform for emerging and established artists by working closely with over twenty artists and Estates, including Pacita Abad, Ghada Amer, Tania Pérez Córdova, and Mire Lee, amongst others. Our expanding program of Asian-American and Asian diasporic artists, including Maia Ruth Lee, Minoru Niizuma, and Wook-Kyung Choi, evince the gallery’s commitment to pushing the conversation beyond national frameworks.
Founded in 2001, the gallery opened the doors to its ground-floor Chelsea exhibition space in 2014. The gallery was instrumental in introducing Korean Dansaekhwa artists such as Park Seo-Bo, Ha Chong-Hyun, and Kim Tschang-Yeul to an international audience, establishing public and institutional awareness of this critically influential group of Asian Post-War artists. The gallery partners regularly with prominent curators, scholars, and writers to produce exhibitions and publications of rigor and critical resonance.
