May Sundowner

From a distance, May Sundowner, 2009, by Pae White, suggests an abstract painting, but closer inspection reveals a woven composition of white smoke plumes against a black background. Installed as a free-hanging textile, this monumental tapestry plays with the illusion of cascading billows of smoke frozen in time. White first began creating large-scale tapestries featuring nontraditional imagery, including smoke, crumpled aluminum foil, food, and collaged elements, in 2004. In a process that combines the ancient tradition of tapestry-making with the sophistication of digital technology, she first produces and photographs these everyday materials—in this case, smoke—then works with artisans aided by computers to transfer and weave the images into final form. The stunning result, May Sundowner, engages with the architecture around it while playing with the illusion of a fleeting moment captured in physical form.