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The magical thread of creative installations

In dark and gloomy times, where art and artists too often succumb to morose subjects imitating despair and angst, he is literally the harbinger of light.

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Nonika Singh

In dark and gloomy times, where art and artists too often succumb to morose subjects imitating despair and angst, he is literally the harbinger of light. Gabriel Dawe, a Mexico-born artist living in Dallas, creates site-specific installations by mounting mammoth sculptures of thread. He not only intends to capture the full spectrum of light but also wants to bring light into people’s lives. He practises conceptual art that began as a reaction to his childhood years. He recalls how as a kid growing up in Mexico City, his sisters were trained in embroidery, while the same was out of bounds for him. As an adult, he not only devoted himself to thread and needle but also enrolled for his bachelor's degree in graphic design from Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, Mexico and for MFA at the University of Texas. 

Later, just as he and his architect friend decided to put up a collaborative exhibition combining fashion and architecture, a thought struck him. “Why not use the material of one and the scale of another?” Fashion may mean haute couture to you and architecture may immediately usher in images of majestic buildings, however, for him the common and core ground between the two lies in the basic fact that that both, be it clothes or houses, serve the purpose of protecting the human body from environmental assault.

Today the astounding beauty of his colourful works might take away from the many layers of his art works, but he is more than happy with the reaction of viewers, which ranges from awe to childlike sense of wonder. 

Having created for public places like airports, is he aware of the public gaze? Does the fact that so many more people are going to see the work dictate his creativity?  He replies, “Space itself speaks to me. When I created for San Antonio airport, the architecture of the space determined my work and ended up looking like a paper plane.”

In the hierarchy of mediums, thread may not figure very highly, but, he adds, “The perception in the West is changing and textiles are being used and becoming an important part of an artist’s oeuvre.” For him, thread is a symbol of life and its ethereality, fragility and ephemeral quality is a metaphor for life and death. Then the title of his Plexus series is emblematic of the network of blood vessels or nerves that run throughout the body and form connections. Medium, however, is not a message for him. The trigger of his creative process, to challenge gender binaries, he believes is no longer as valid as when he moved towards embroidery, for which his fascination stands intact.

Opportunities for creating site-specific works might be more in the US, but many other variables remain the same. An artist’s journey, he insists, “is as arduous. For 10 years I was simply not going anywhere. But the trick is not to lose sight of the goal.” 

He feels not tasting success early in life has been more a boon than bane. Fortunate to be where he is today, his works find a place in public (Marillo Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Newark Museum, SCAD Museum of Art, University of Texas at Dallas) and private collections. He says, “Attention, a double edged sword, is difficult to navigate if it happens too soon. You have to be centred to handle success.” Dittoing the sentiments of Robert Henri, “I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living,” he would rather create and evolve than be trapped in the dynamics of market and marketing.

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