This story, which originally published Aug. 16, 2016, has been updated with extended dates for the installation.
More than 60 miles — nearly twice the distance between downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth — of multicolored thread fills the Amon Carter Museum of American Art's atrium as part of a series of works the museum has commissioned to expand the notion of what American art can be in the 21st century. The installation, which was originally scheduled to be on display through Sept. 2, 2018, has been extended for another year till Sept. 29, 2019. The museum said in a statement that it is seeking donations on North Texas Giving Day on Sept. 20 so that it can acquire the work for its permanent collection.
In Plexus: No. 34, Mexican-born, Dallas-based artist Gabriel Dawe has created what appears to be an indoor rainbow made of 18 different colors of thread. To construct the large-scale optical illusion, which will take about two weeks to complete, Dawe brought a mapped-out plan showing which colors of thread go where. He's working in a specific order, constructing the piece in layers.
The artist has been creating these indoor rainbows for the past five years as part of his series called Plexus, which refers to the network of vessels running through a body and broadly refers to the intricate network of threads in his pieces. The museum hopes to captivate visitors' attention with the piece for the next two years.
Through Sept. 2, 2018, at Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. Free. cartermuseum.org.
