Fabric, a material that seemingly begs for human touch, is something we all have a level of familiarity with. Whether it is clothing worn or removed from the body, commercially bought, hand dyed, or recycled weathered canvas, Arao harnesses the tactility and multiple interpretations of fabric, often alluding to its central relationship to the human body.
Fabric, a material that seemingly begs for human touch, is something we all have a level of familiarity with. Whether it is clothing worn or removed from the body, commercially bought, hand dyed, or recycled weathered canvas, Arao harnesses the tactility and multiple interpretations of fabric, often alluding to its central relationship to the human body.
Arao’s works simultaneously reach back through history and into the future as powerful symbols of representation and beauty. Gathered from disparate sources, carrying the psychic or physical traces of the hands that manufactured or the bodies that wore the textiles used in his fabric paintings, there is a legacy of nuance woven into the fibers of each work. Written into each color choice, use of various types of fabric, and overall composition, is a steadfast trust in process and faith in intuition. Regarding his work, Arao states, “In my sewn paintings, the stability of geometric forms is disrupted through the use of altered patterns and asymmetry, creating a space that’s dynamic and shifting – much like the concept of queerness itself.” Flexible, open-ended, and bounding with vibrant color, Paolo Arao’s work bears an embedded personal history as well as an immediate sense of celebration and vitality.