Paolo Arao

Paolo Arao is a Filipino-American artist who fuses textiles with painting to explore the elastic nature of queerness. His work is rooted in geometric abstraction; created by stitching pieces of second-hand clothing, hand-dyed fabrics, and weathered canvas. At Bemis, he plans to experiment with the shape, scale, and sculptural possibilities of his sewn paintings while introducing silkscreened patterns and hand-woven textiles referencing American quilt-making traditions and textiles from the Philippines.