Art in the Atrium: Gabriel Dawe’s Plexus No. 47
April 16, 2026–April 30, 2028
Atrium
Gabriel Dawe’s Plexus No. 47 is composed of long arrangements of colored threads zigzagging across the Frist Art Museum’s atrium like refracted beams of light. Illuminated by the clerestory windows above, these threads are so close together that they may seem to blend in the eyes of the beholder, appearing as a colorful mist. Like other works in Dawe’s Plexus series, this installation evokes the spectrum of hues that occurs as light is dispersed by a glass prism or when a rainbow forms after a storm. While Plexus No. 47 is rooted in the science of optics, it also echoes Karl Marx’s poetic reflection that “all that is solid melts into air,” an affirmation that nothing is fixed—neither materials nor belief systems.
Plexus No. 47 may evoke the stained-glass windows of cathedrals, in which colored light seems to issue from a heavenly source, inviting congregants to join together in spiritual reverie. While the installation is not intended to trigger a religious experience, it may similarly inspire a shared experience of the sublime. The artist says, “I can offer the viewer . . . a glimmer of hope that brings us closer to the transcendent, to show that there can be beauty in this messed up world we live in. Light comes to symbolize unity and wholeness.”
About the artist
Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe’s work has been exhibited in Belgium, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. After living in Montreal, Canada, for seven years, he moved to Dallas, TX, where he obtained his MFA at the University of Texas at Dallas. For the final two years of his degree, he was an artist in residence at the CentralTrak program at UT Dallas. His work has been installed in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, and the Denver Art Museum, and, in 2015, a work in his Plexus series was part of the opening of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Numerous publications have featured his work, including Sculpture magazine; Art Fundamentals, published by McGraw-Hill; and the book Raw + Material = Art: Found, Scavenged and Upcycled by Tristan Manco.
Organized by the Frist Art Museum
Installation view of Plexus No. 47 in the Frist Art Museum atrium
Commission generously supported by
Sara and Richard Bovender
