Rhizome.org

While browsing through rhizome.org I particularly became very fond of an installation created by Pae White entitled Smoke Knows (2009). At first glance I didn’t think of it as to having much extravagance in terms of the medium used and so I persisted with the assumption that it was just a blown up photograph of something beautiful. I didn’t know what it was, but I just had the perception that it was absolutely stunning. It had certainly captured my attention.

It was unbeknownst to me at the time... but as I continued to research further about the artwork, I suddenly became utterly stunned when I found out White had used tapestry along with photographic images to create the plumes of smoke - I didn’t quite understand why I felt the way I did, but I just did.

Smoke Knows is an installation measuring 9’6”`x 21’6” and is made out of tapestry and generates the use of photographic images by artist Pae White. White is known to be one of the most significant American female artists participating in design and photography today.

I was drawn to her meticulous, crisp and challenging piece of work. It was wonderful being able to dwell on something that is so transitory in our lives. White’s piece of art really allows us to monumentalize how beautiful smoke can really be and allows us to evoke a vivid impression of smoke.

Smoke Knows is currently being exhibited at a Whitney Biennial - A biennial exhibition of contemporary American art on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA.