The works in 'Walk the Line' at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art are far less simple than they seem.
Line is arguably the most fundamental tool of art, the essential building block for drawing and painting, and an indispensable device for conveying perspective, depth and dimension. Abstract expressionism is a possible exception, though even some of that depends upon line for its rhythm and energy (behold Jackson Pollock). Paul Klee said, “A line is a dot that went for a walk.” And oh, what variegated paths line travels in “Walk the Line,” up through May 8 at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland.
The eight artists whose work is on display spans a variety of media, including assemblage, artist’s books, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and textiles. No matter what medium they’re working in, however, line – expressed as a mark traveling from one point to another, or as a means for defining geometric forms – is a primary concern.
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Not all lines in the show are drawn or painted. Philippines-born artist Paolo Arao makes sewn fabric “paintings” out of textile scraps and hand-dyed materials. They are, of course, all about geometry and line – thick rectangular swatches, thinner strips, square and triangular cuts, etc.
But more subliminally they explore ideas of queerness. Geometric abstraction is, in its broadest sense, a genre that places great focus on control, rigor and formal structure. It is mathematical and intellectual. By using fabric instead of pencils or paint, Arao is softening this rigidity and constriction and questioning the meaning of “straight,” both literally and in terms of sexuality.
Of course, the explosion of color acknowledges the rich diversity of human experience. Arao has also said his work references the textile arts of the Philippines and of African American quilting. Yet, though he was a mere child when the AIDS Memorial Quilt project got underway in 1985 (he was born in 1977), Arao surely is also alluding – especially in “Evolving Quilt Project” – to the now 54-ton tapestry displaying nearly 50,000 panels commemorating the death toll of another pandemic that many remember only dimly today.
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