On such a momentous day, it seems apropos to highlight an artist whose artwork is centered around the inherent, abundant beauty and light in our world. Representations of the visible spectrum of light, rainbows have been used for centuries as symbols of hope - from well known biblical references of God’s promise to Noah after the flood, to our current time period of quarantine where these colored arcs filled windows, and sidewalks.
During his studio visit, Gabriel Dawe echoed those notions of hope for the future when he said that “despite the unprecedented times we’re living through, I am very optimistic of what is going to come out of all this. I think that there’s the possibility for things to get very messy, but I have no doubt in my mind that we’re witnessing the collapse of the patriarchal system and that brings me a lot of hope for a brighter future."
Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe creates site-specific installations that explore the connection between fashion and architecture, and how they relate to the human need for shelter in all its shapes and forms. His work is centered in the exploration of textiles, aiming to examine the complicated construction of gender and identity in his native Mexico and attempting to subvert the notions of masculinity and machismo prevalent in the present day.
Dawe’s work has been exhibited in the US, Canada, Belgium, and the UK. After living in Montreal, Canada for 7 years, he moved to Dallas, Texas, where he obtained his MFA at the University of Texas at Dallas. For the final two years of his degree, he was an artist in residence at CentralTrak, the Artist in Residency program at UTD. His work has been featured in numerous publications around the world, including Sculpture magazine, the cover of the 12th edition of Art Fundamentals published by McGraw-Hill, and in author Tristan Manco’s book Raw + Material = Art .
Dawe’s solo Museum exhibitions include “The Shape of Light” at the Newark Museum, Plexus no. 28, at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Plexus no 25, at Contemproary Art Museum, Raleigh. His work has been included in several museum exhibitions including, “Outside the Lines” at Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, “State of the Art” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and “Wonder” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery. His work is in the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas, the Newark Museum, New Jersey, and in the State Department’s Art in Embassies program.
For more information, please see: Gabriel Dawe, and on Instagram @gabrieldawe.
Gabriel Dawe, Plexus No. 19, 2012. Site-specific installation at Villa Olmo, Como, Italy for Miniartextil. Image courtesy of the artist.
First, and most importantly, how are you doing? How are you navigating the highs and lows?
I’m doing well. Being an introvert, this time of laying low has been a welcome affair for me personally as I’m really enjoying staying home. I am lucky enough to be able to quarantine with my partner and a friend, so I get enough social interactions to not crave contact. Having said that, I do miss my friends and I look forward to hanging out once more.
Gabriel Dawe, Plexus No. 40. Photo courtesy of Paradise Art Space by Park Myung Rae.
It's my experience that most artists engage with some level of self-isolation in their day to day art practice. Has this been your experience? And if so, have you found these innate rhythms to be helpful during this larger, world-wide experience of isolation?
Normally, because of my installation work, I travel a lot for several weeks at a time, so being forced to stay home has made me rethink some aspects of my practice. Although I’ve always had some studio works going on on, this situation has opened a new avenue of exploration for me. I’ve started to re-interpret my installation work into two-dimensional works that I can do at home, and I’m very happy with the results.
Dawe’s experimental 2D work. Image courtesy of the artist.
Gabriel Dawe, Plexus No. 31, 2015. Site-specific installation at the Newark Museum, Newark, NJ. Image courtesy of the artist.
It would be great if you could briefly talk us through your practice. Understanding it is integral to appreciating the multivalence of your work.
I started my career picking up embroidery as a means to challenge notions of gender identity. Embroidery was something that was deinied to me as a child, having grown up in the macho culture that is prevalent in my natal country, Mexico. What’s messed up about this is that it is a patriarchal system that in my experience was enforced mainly by female figures. So, that decision to pick thread and needle was my way of standing up to that system and start dismantling all the nocive conditioning within myself. If I look back to that moment, I can see all the sequence of events that led me to create the Plexus installations, which is what I’m mostly known for. It’s as if I was able to free myself from the binds that held me down and was able to explode into an array of color in space. Having said that, that liberation process is not something I’d say is done and dealt with, and in many ways, it’s something that I still work on to this day. If I look at all my work I can see how it has been a personal quest for self realization and to better know myself, and some of my most recent work, the Missing Series, has come out of the realization that I will never be fully done and I am okay with that.
Gabriel Dawe, Missing 2, 2020. Mixed media. Image courtesy of the artist.
Has any of your imagery shifted in a reflection to what's currently happening? And why, or why not?
The way my imagery shifted with quarantine has been in terms of scale and dimension (as in going form 3D to 2D). I had historically shied away from doing this because the installation work is so powerful in its monumental scale that I felt that reducing it to a flat surface would just not work. But having the time to actually try it out and see how it works on its own was a pleasant surprise. Lately, and to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter and the Black Trans Lives Matter movements, I removed all color on these small works and used only black thread. The elegance these works exude is something that I wasn’t expecting and am very happy about.
Dawe’s experimental 2D work in support of Black Lives Matter and Black Trans Lives Matter. Image courtesy of the artist.
Are you thinking differently? Coping differently? Inspired differently?
Although I’ve been meditating for many years now, being stationed at home has allowed me the space to really stick to a discipline of meditating every day and I’m starting to see the reults. I’m very much at peace and I’m able to go into deep meditation like never before.
Artist Gabriel Dawe working in his studio. Image courtesy Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
What is bringing you solace, or even joy, in this moment?
Despite the unprecedented times we’re living through, I am very optimistic of what is going to come out of all this. I think that there’s the possibility for things to get very messy, but I have no doubt in my mind that we’re witnessing the collapse of the patriarchal system and that brings me a lot of hope for a brighter future.
Gabriel Dawe, Plexus A1 (detail), 2015. Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Photos by Ron Blunt.
What research or writing are you doing that you find compelling?
I’ve been doing research on the Arctic in preparation to my Arctic Circle Residency, which was supposed to be an expedition on board of a tall ship around Svalbard during this past June. Due to Covid-19, my trip was postponed to next April. My main intention for wanting to go there is to study first hand the quality of natural light, which is famed to be like nowhere else on the planet. My installation work deals with ideas about light, which is one of the reasons this expedition to the far north is very compelling. From my research, one of the things that has really captured my attention is the spirit of adventure of early expeditioners, and the idea of going to such remote locations where you end up being far removed from human activity (although with the effects of global warming, this is now more of a metaphor and not so much a reality, as the effects of human activity are very pervasive).
Gabriel Dawe, Plexus A1, 2015. Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Photos by Ron Blunt.
Are you reading anything?
I’m reading Womb Awakening by Azra and Seren Bertrand, which is about the primal feminine wisdom within all of us, regardless of our own gender, and that is rooted in ancient matriarchal systems. I’m also reading The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga by Paul Brunton.
Portrait of Gabriel Dawe standing next to Plexus No. 35, 2016. Site-specific installation at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH. Photos by Andrew Weber.