New exhibit at Amon Carter hangs by colorful threads

A woven rainbow has appeared in the atrium of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. It took two weeks to coalesce and not a drop of rain was felt as artist Gabriel Dawe created it, interlacing 18 colors of industrial-weight thread into a facsimile of refracted light.

The intent of the “Plexus” series, Dawe says, “is to materialize light, to give it density, so that I can offer the viewer an approximation of things otherwise inaccessible to us — a glimmer of hope that brings us closer to the transcendent.”

Plexus no. 34 is the most recent of Dawe’s attempts to approximate a prismatic-induced rainbow. In the five years that he has been making the “Plexus” series (named for the network of nerves or vessels in a body), he has installed the twisting beams of color in galleries and museums — and each location brings about new understanding of how space can dramatically influence the final result.

The Carter’s large, two-story-plus atrium was offered to Dawe as the setting for Plexus no. 34. The museum has been showcasing the work of living contemporary Texas artists in this space since 2013. It’s a large area, with clerestory windows along the roof line.

Dawe used the corners at the intersection of the Carter’s walls, roof and windows to anchor his piece so that it looks like two large beams of light are raking across the atrium. From the second-floor balconies, only one beam is visible. From the ground floor, it appears as if two sails are skimming through the atrium. Climbing the staircase gives a different impression entirely. The optical illusions change with the viewer’s vantage point.

“Direct sunlight adds another dimension to the work.” Dawe says. He has noticed that when the sun comes through the Carter’s windows in the late afternoon, the colors look fake, as if they have been Photoshopped, he says.

Fluctuating impressions are typical of the various “Plexus” installations. In stark white-walled galleries, the woven threads create a sculptural mass that looks almost solid. In spaces that have more architectural variety, the woven threads become wispier and more transparent — as if they are only light.

The Carter setting, because of its size and with a smattering of Philip Johnson’s architectural details, manages to give both impressions, that the weaving is a solid and an atmospheric phenomenon.

Previous “Plexus” installations usually tended to one extreme or the other.

Plexus no. 19, installed in the neoclassical Villa Olmo in Como, Italy, appears to be nothing more than a beam of sunlight, as the threads originate near a window and streak across the elaborate architectural details of the 200-year-old building.

Plexus no. 27, splayed across the minimalist white walls and ceiling in the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, looks almost solid in shape, and the colors could be reflections from something beyond the camera lens.

Location is everything for a “Plexus” work.

Dawe, 42, has been based in Dallas for the past eight years and has traveled the world with his threads of many colors. His next “Plexus” is scheduled for the San Antonio airport in conjunction with the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum. This one might not have the complete rainbow. He says he is considering limiting his palette.

“Early on, I used the full spectrum to reinforce light. What I am starting to develop is to disrupt the full spectrum,” Dawe says.

At the end of each “Plexus” run, which can be as short-lived as a few days or as long-lasting as years, Dawe carefully unhooks the threads and stuffs the copious yardage into a 9-inch plexiglass cube.

He titles these “Plexus” afterlifes Relics. Plexus no. 34 at the Carter is not scheduled to become a Relic until 2018.

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 3:31 PM with the headline "New exhibit at Amon Carter hangs by colorful threads."