Paolo Arao
Paolo Arao makes sewn paintings, textile constructions and site-responsive installations that are rooted in geometric abstraction. He mends this lineage of abstraction through the use of textiles; stitching patchworks that explore the elastic nature of queerness and reflects his Filipino heritage. Made with hand-dyed fabrics, second-hand clothing, hand woven fibers and weathered canvas, his works resemble flags or quilts, often carrying physical traces of the bodies that wore them. In his work, color, (a)symmetry and materiality are formally and conceptually interwoven. Regarding color, Arao states: “My relationship to color is not passive. It is political, it’s personal, it’s emotional, it is felt and it is in my very being.”
Paolo Arao (b.1977 Manila, Philippines) is a Brooklyn-Based, Filipino-American artist working with textiles. He received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Arao has shown his work in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally and has presented solo exhibitions at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, Western Exhibitions in Chicago, and Jeff Bailey Gallery in NYC.
(Photo credit: Hong-An Tran)
