gabriel dawe weaves 60 miles of rainbow thread through renwick gallery

gabriel dawe weaves 60 miles of rainbow thread through renwick gallery
all images courtesy conduit gallery / photos by ron blunt

within the smithsonian american art museum‘s renwick gallery, the exhibition ‘wonder’ — on from now until july 2016 — sees nine contemporary artists create site-specific works that turn each interior into a room-sized installation. one of the featured artists, alongside jennifer angus previously featured by designboom here, is mexican-born gabriel dawe who has woven ‘plexus A1’ through the recently-renovated site. 

thousands of strands of polyester sewing thread have been individually strung from floor to ceiling to create a monumental spectrum of color, often mistaken for fleeting rays of light. composed of 15 colors representing the full spectrum of visible light, ‘plexus A1’ has been made with nearly 60 miles of thread over a period of 10 days, spanning the renwick’s 19-foot-tall ceilings. dawe works in a specific order, constructing the pieces layer by layer to ensure that the slowly shifting gradient of hues is properly realized. this architecturally scaled weaving — one in an ongoing series of ‘plexus’ pieces — is inspired by memories of the mexico city and east texas skies, his childhood and current homes.

thousands of strands of polyester sewing thread have been individually strung from floor to ceiling

the installation is composed of 15 colors representing the full spectrum of visible light

each piece is constrcuted layer by layer to ensure that the slowly shifting gradient of hues is properly realized

the installations are often mistaken for fleeting rays of light

‘plexus A1’ spans the renwick’s 19-foot-tall ceilings and has been made with nearly 60 miles of thread