Strikingly articulate and exceedingly experimental, artist Gabriel Dawe is breaking down barriers of a traditional male Mexican artist as he constructs geometric and fantastical illusions through the use of textile and thread. KAC had the pleasure to meet with Dawe in Dallas during his residency at Fairmont Hotel. Located in the bustling art district of downtown Dallas, Dawe innovatively transformed his temporary studio space into a colorful and dynamic solo exhibition.
Dawe's studio at Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas
Responding to the architecture and environment, Dawe's installations become an open dialogue between art and space. While this process creates unique, site-specific works of art, there is a found unity throughout his collection. Every installation is developed from the full color spectrum, resembling light rays. Only experimented once before, the installation presented in Dallas, explores the cooler side of the spectrum, staying exclusively with blues, violets, and shades of pink. Here Dawe begins to omit part of the color spectrum, a preliminary investigation into the absence of color. This new departure is one he addresses further in his current exhibition "Plexus 37" at Conduit Gallery.
Dawe in front of his site-specific installation
Detail of Dawe's installation
Living and working in Dallas, locals have come to familiarize themselves with Dawe's brightly colored thread installations. Therefore he decidedly turned a 180 in his recent endeavor by masterfully abandoning color through the use of gray, silver, and black threads. The viewer is forced to see beyond the spectrum, cerebrating this omission to be not an act of defiance against that traditionally associated with color, but perhaps as a "silver lining" on what is next for the renowned artist and his forthcoming work.
Spools of silver thread in front of a work in progress
Gabriel Dawe is represented in Dallas, Texas by Conduit Gallery. Dawe is on view now with Conduit Gallery through May 13, 2017.
Repurposed thread installation
