artwork by Grace Bonney 28

gabriel dawe thread installations


This weekend AC was out of town playing at a poker tournament and I was home sick so I spent an awful lot of time on the internet, poking around for inspiration. After searching around my favorite haunts I settled into a full day of enjoying my old favorites: Sleater-Kinney albums, takeout Thai and the archives of Fast Co. Design. Fast Co. Design continues to be my number one recommendation for anyone interested in cutting-edge design and installations. Namely because these guys find things I didn’t even know existed, and then write about them so beautifully.



This weekend I read a post by Suzanne Labarre about an amazing artist named Gabriel Dawe. Gabriel creates site-specific installations using thread that quite simply blow my mind. Using over 50 miles of string, Gabriel creates dramatic, almost other-worldly installations that, from one perspective, remind me of sophisticated and elaborate versions of the weavings all Girl Scouts do at summer camp using popsicle sticks. From other angles? Well, they’re just breathtaking and evoke such a gut-level sense of awe that I have a feeling only gets stronger when you see them in person. If you’re looking for some early-morning inspiration, look no further than Gabriel’s work and the slideshow at Fast Co. — these pieces have been on my computer desktop for two days, and they’ve been endlessly inspiring. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I did. xo, grace

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28 Comments

Julie

Oh, and I also wanted to thank you for the Fast Co. link – I was unaware of their site and I love it.

cherade9

I got goosebumps! So beautiful. I can imagine walking around and around them, enjoying the changing vistas :)

Emily

Plexus #4 is my favorite piece I have seen all year! It is currently still up at the Dallas Contemporary so everyone who lives in Dallas or nearby should get over there and spend some time with this beautiful piece. It is truly breathtaking.

Andrea B

Breathtaking!

She makes her own rainbow-filled spaces. :) Love it. This is some kind of beautiful colorful combination of weaving and those geometric design sketches that connected the dots from grade school. Thanks for sharing! It brightened up a gray day.

Trix

I love how they look like beams/sheets of light instead of something material. So amazing!

Deborah

Absolutely stunning work. It does look like diffused sheets of light, as if it were moving. Beautiful!

lindsey

If you like his stuff check out Mark Garry, an Irish artist that has been doing something similar for sometime now. Mark’s stuff is much more simple, subtle, and almost surprising; like almost walking into a beautiful spiderweb that the light caught just in time for you to see, or a rainbow caught between two dew drops. Anyways check out MARK GARRY!

Patty

This is a truly amazing installation! Who knew thread could make such a huge statement. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Morgan G

Haven’t seen anything this uniquely beautiful in awhile. Thank you for sharing and don’t mind if I tweet. :)

Renee Cavin

I intern for the Dallas Contemporary, where Gabriel Dawe’s Plexus No. 4 is up until mid march. Anyone in Dallas needs to come check it out!

161 Glass Street Dallas, Texas

Kim C

Renee – Thanks for letting us know about where you can find something now in Dallas and Design Sponge thank you for all the incredible leads on beautiful things. After checking Gabriel’s site, I was surprised to learn that he is here in our own backyard. So must go see. Very inspirational!

T. P.

Was scanning the main page when I saw this thinking, “wow, looks familiar” then “Wait! I go to school with this guy!”. His art amazes us all.

April

Oh my! I LOVE this!!! This is just stunningly beautiful.

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