Devotion is the loom with which artists weave craft, steadfastness, and personal conviction, for a meaningful creative practice. Filipino-American artist Paolo Arao explores this concept – metaphorically and physically – with his second solo exhibition on view at the David B. Smith Gallery, aptly named Devotion, in a showcase of new textile works alongside collaborative totem sculptures that pull on patrons’ heartstrings.
The lyricism of Devotion plays out in textile drawings where geometric patterns are hand stitched into appliquéd patchworks in a symphony of color. Viewers’ eyes follow varied visual thread weights and move along the intricate line work as if reading sheet music. “For me, the most direct link to musicality and textiles comes through the instruments used to create music and cloth,” Arao says. “The loom is like a piano. And I think of weaving as a way of making threads sing. There is a somatic rhythm to weaving on a loom that feels connected to playing music on a piano.”
Part of what makes the collection so poignant is the visitors’ ability to glean personal meaning from a material most are intimately familiar with, and often interconnected by. Following a rich Filipino textile heritage and cultural ideologies, Arao imbues pattern, texture, joinery, and hue with a bit of spiritual healing and protective power – so to speak. Dizzying patterns and kaleidoscopic colorways, which do create a greater visual vibration, are thought to offer protection to the beholder in warding off evil spirits. Call it faith or superstition, the power of composition is bewitching to onlookers, fascinating to critics, and an essential source of inspiration. “I carry color within me,” Arao adds. “My relationship to color is not passive. It is political, it is personal, it is emotional, it is felt, and it is in my very being.”
While prismatic quilted pieces and the “all-seeing, protective eye” represented in a repeating diamond motif are mainstays of Arao’s repertoire, new to his oeuvre are textile paintings made on the loom, handwoven multi-panel tapestries, and wooden fiber sculptures created collaboratively with artist Gregory Beson. Each of these formats is a testament to having built a consistent rhythm of works where each new textural or material element can step forward from a chorus of tradition for their own solo performance. Pieces like Nocturnes and Études employ precision needlework against complementary woven backdrops for this new series of intimately-scaled, wall-based textile works.
The clear aesthetic labor echoes soft fabric sounds while conjuring visions of nimble needlework, which together harmonize aesthetics, techniques, and the artist’s heritage. “There’s an immensity packed into an intimate scale, and I hope that these pieces can invite a moment of wonder or reflection for the viewer.”
Paolo Arao’s work will be on view in the Main Gallery and Project Room at David B. Smith Gallery until May 11. You may learn more about the artists involved and see more of their work by visiting paoloarao.com and gregorybeson.com, or visit the gallery website at davidbsmithgallery.com.
