Paolo Arao (BFA ’99) came to New York in 2000 to be an independent artist. Eighteen years later, that goal is coming to fruition.
After working for many different artists, including Sol LeWitt and Robert Longo, Arao decided to strike out on his own last year. Now he’s achieving success as a studio painter.
Arao’s new solo exhibition, 52 Weeks, opens June 9 at Barney Savage Gallery in Tribeca. The show runs until July 8 and features a series of paintings based in geometric abstraction inspired by textiles and quilts. The 52 paintings make up a weekly series he created throughout 2017.
“I needed to do this project where I could make as many paintings as I wanted,” says Arao about 52 Weeks. “It’s about getting back into painting—painting a lot.“
While working as Longo’s studio manager, Arao had just one day a week for personal projects and exhibitions. But becoming a full-time artist required him to devise a relentless work structure, one where the rhythm of repetition changed the way he thought about painting.
“For every not great [painting], there’s one really awesome one,” he says. “Being in the studio, making paintings, you don’t want anyone to see mistakes. The project for me was getting rid of that perfectionism and embracing mistakes. In a way, it feels more truthful, more honest. That’s kind of what life is, it feels imperfect.”
Since graduating magna cum laude from the Department of Painting + Printmaking, Arao has seized many opportunities that have proven to be invaluable in his development as an artist. Residencies in particular have changed his professional trajectory more than once.
In 1999, a month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center led to a year’s work as a staff artist. During his time in Vermont, a visiting artist recommended that he apply to the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture program in Maine. His stay there in 2000 convinced him to follow his newly built community of more than 60 artists back to New York. Skowhegan is also where he connected with Longo.
Two years ago, Arao accepted a residency at Fire Island, which reminded him of the importance of meeting fellow artists and focusing on his own work. That return to an immersive creative environment is also what ultimately inspired him to break out on his own.
Now, residencies allow him to pursue projects like 52 Weeks. In 2018 alone, Arao has taken up residencies at the Studios at MASS MoCA, the Lower East Side Printshop Keyholder Residency, the Vermont Studio Center, the Wassaic Artist Residency, the Millay Colony, and BRIC Workspace Residency.
“Once I focused all my energy into being a full-time artist,” says Arao, “it opened up all these other opportunities.
“If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, no one else is gonna believe in what you’re doing.”
Paolo Arao (b. 1977, Manila, Philippines) is a Brooklyn-based artist working in painting, textiles and collage. He received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1999. For more on the artist, visit paoloarao.com.
Image one: Arao in front of an in progress work.
Image two: Left: No. 48 (Smoke and Mirrors), 2017. Right: No. 18 (Come Undone), 2017. 52 Weeks was preceded by Yearbook, a 2016 daily painting project that resulted in 366 works (it was a leap year).
The post Painting alumnus debuts ‘52 Weeks’ of paintings in Tribeca appeared first on VCUarts.