“Color is vital to my work. 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 is a Brooklyn-based, Filipino-American artist working with textiles. He received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Arao has shown his work widely. He was recently an artist-in-residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE.
For more information, please see: http://www.paoloarao.com/, and on Instagram @paolo_arao.
Paolo Arao, Othered Sides, 2018. Acrylic and colored pencil on sewn canvas and cotton, grommets. 25 x 35 inches overall. Photo courtesy of the artist.
First, and most importantly, how are you doing? How are you navigating the highs and lows?
I am fine considering the current circumstances. I had spent three months away at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and I am grateful to be back in Brooklyn, spending more time with my husband, who’s working from home. I’m trying to stay healthy and optimistic and also limiting the amount of digital noise from the news and social media.
Paolo Arao, Uncharted (What It Means To Be An Island), 2020. Sewn cotton, grommets, wood. 96 x 86 inches. Installation at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE. Photo credit: Colin Conces.
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 make sewn paintings and installations that are rooted in geometric abstraction. And I am mending this lineage of abstraction through the use of textiles, making work that explores the elastic nature of queerness and reflects my Filipino-American heritage. In my recent wok made for my solo exhibition at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, I incorporated motifs and palettes from textiles of the Southern Philippines to create sewn paintings that are in conversation with Hard Edge Painting, Op Art, Pattern and Decoration, and the quilt making traditions of Gee’s Bend and the Amish. Color is vital to my work. 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, Manila Mojo (side view), 2020. Sewn cotton, denim, wool, felt, nylon, canvas. 20 x 24 inches. Photo credit: Colin Conces.
Has any of your imagery shifted in a reflection to what's currently happening? And why, or why not?
I’m sensing seismic shifts occuring now that will most likely be influencing and inspiring the work to come. We’ll see what happens…
Paolo Arao, Birds in Flight (No. 5), 2019. Sewn cotton, silk, denim, corduroy, canvas, colored pencil. 126 x 110 inches overall. Photo credit: Morgan Lehman Gallery, NYC.
Are you thinking differently? Coping differently? Inspired differently?
In thinking, I am re-evaluating how, what, why and for whom I’m making work. In coping, I am embracing labor, imperfection and slowness. And I am inspired by the increasing importance, attention and visibility that is being given to BIPOC and I sincerely hope this continues. I am unlearning and discovering new things daily.
Paolo Arao, Collective Comfort (Evolving Quilt), ongoing. Sewn canvas, corduroy, cotton, denim, silk, wool. Current dimensions: 125 x 250 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.
What is bringing you solace, or even joy, in this moment?
I’m finding joy in simple things like morning walks around my neighborhood in Brooklyn and cooking for my husband.
Paolo Arao, Lucky Star (Diptych), 2018. Sewn cotton, canvas, colored pencil. 24 x 18 inches each. Photo credit: Cary Whittier.
Are you reading anything?
I’m currently re-reading The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.
I recently finished listening to:
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Books in rotation:
Thinking Through Craft by Glenn Adamson
String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art by Elissa Auther
Yellow: The History of a Color by Michel Pastoureau
A History of the Philippines by Luis H. Francia
Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino-American Postcolonial Psychology by E.J.R David
Queer edited by David Getsy
American Quilts Below the Radar by Roderick Kiracofe
Paolo Arao, Back and Forth Forever, 2020. Sewn cotton, denim, wool, felt, nylon, canvas. 36 x 45 inches. Photo credit: Colin Conces.