EDUCATION
Skowhegan School of Painting + Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME (2000)
BFA Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA (1999)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Devotion, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO (April 13 - May 11, 2024)
Reverberations, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE (December 9, 2023 - April 14, 2024)
Loom Songs, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY (October 12 - November 11, 2023)
A Selection of Recent Works, David B. Smith Gallery | Project Room, Denver. CO (Mar 10 - May 1, 2023)
mythweaver, Main Window: Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY (December 8, 2022 - February 21, 2023)
Drawdown, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY (March 11 - May 8, 2021)
Paolo Arao: In Dialogue with Drawing, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA (February 20 - August 8, 2021)
Never Too Much, David B. Smith Gallery | Project Room, Denver, CO (March 27 - July 18, 2020)
Key Change, Glass Box Gallery (curated by Sharon Arnold), Seattle, WA (June 29 - July 20, 2019)
Night Throbs, Western Exhibitions, Gallery 2, Chicago, IL (September 14 - October 27, 2018)
Between the Lights, Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN (April 2 - May 22, 2010)
Fornever, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY (October 10 - November 8, 2008)
Intermission, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY (March 22 - April 22, 2006)
Make Them Love You, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY (October 13 - November 14, 2004)
TWO and THREE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Water Rhythms: Paolo Arao and Susie Ibarra / Michele Koppes, Fridman Gallery, Beacon, NY (October 30 - December 19, 2021)
Triple Play: Paolo Arao, Rhys Coren, Erin O’Keefe, Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (November 21 - December 23, 2020)
Here or There: Paolo Arao + Kaveri Raina, RATA Projects at 1 Rivington Street, New York, NY (October 23 - November 24, 2019)
Like Mercury in the Wind: Paolo Arao, Sam King, Jason Osborne. Oneoneone, Chapel Hill, NC (curated by Louis Watts, June 7 - July 20, 2019)
Zina Al-Shukri, Paolo Arao, Anthony Sonenberg, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA (April 6 - May 18, 2019)
Good Vibrations: Paolo Arao, Angela Heisch, Ryan Reggiani, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY (July 14 - August 18, 2018)
Project 14: Paolo Arao + Nick Makanna, c2c project space, San Francisco, CA (March 31 - April 22, 2018)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Hand Over Hand: Textiles Today, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL
Dallas Art Fair, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
Homespun: Hudson Valley Artists, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz, NY (curated by Karlyn Benson)
2022
XX: Twenty Years, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
Walk the Line, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME (curated by Timothy Peterson)
Dallas Art Fair, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO
In Spite of Modernism, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA (curated by Haley Clouser) (cat.)
More Than Words Can Say, JEFF, Marfa, TX
2021
Transfer-mations, Art in Buildings in collaboration with Love Apple Art Space, Ghent, NY (curated by Tessa Ferreyros)
Abstranded: Fiber and Abstraction in Contemporary Art, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY (curated by Elizabeth Dunbar)
Where the Heart Is: Contemporary Art by Immigrant Artists, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
2020
Index, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (curated by Alicia Little)
Cut + Color, Albany International Airport Gallery, Albany, NY (curated by Kathy Greenwood)
A Feeling Falls Apart, Geary Contemporary, New York, NY (curated by Poppy DeltaDawn)
2019
Queer Abstraction, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS (curated by Jared Ledesma)
Shift, Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME (curated by Tracy McKenna)
All We Want Is To See Ourselves, FLXST Contemporary, Chicago, IL (curated by Jan Christian Bernabe)
Shape Rattle & Roll, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY
The Unusual Suspects: A View of Abstraction, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY (curated by Richard Kalina)
Here: A Bit of Everywhere and Everyone They’ve Been, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Vanessa Kowalski)
Woven Walls, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
After & Because Of, Marsh Gallery at Herron School of Art + Design | Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
Quiet March to a Warring Song The Shaker Museum, New Lebanon, NY (curated by Amie Cunat) (catalog)
Ad Astra Per Aspera, The Wassaic Project: Maxon Mills, Wassaic, NY (curated by the Wassaic Project)
The Whole and It’s Parts Through an Urbanistic Lens, Space 52, Athens, Greece (curated by Das Esszimmer)
New York is Now, IS-Projects at Platforms Projects, Athens, Greece (curated by Jacob Cartwright)
an idea, maybe. Foyer Gallery, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia (curated by Zoe Charlton and Tim Doud)
2018
Rhythm, Stress, & Pausing, Super Dutchess, New York, NY
Afterimage, Paradice Palase, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Kat Ryals and Lauren Hirshfield)
Three Squared, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA (curated by Sue + Phil Knoll)
Conveyor, Morgan Fine Arts Building, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Kate Mothes)
Half a Wave, Pfizer Building Gallery , Brooklyn, NY (curated by Rachel Cohen and Christine Rebhuhn)
The Cruellest Month, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY (curated by Kirsten Deirup and Paola Ochoa)
Squaring the Sun, Far x Wide, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Jes Cannon)
Somewhere Nearby, Bridge Productions, Seattle, WA (curated by Sue Danielson)
2017
The Flat Files: Year Five, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Brooklyn, NY (catalog)
Painting Not Painting, Sindikit, Baltimore, MD (curated by Tim Doud and Zoe Charlton)
Western Decoy, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH (curated by Angela Heisch and James McDevitt-Stredney)
Broad Stripes + Bright Stars, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
Common Ground, Ana Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia (curated by Vika Dushkina)
All Things Great and Small, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA (curated by Sue + Phil Knoll)
Overlaid and Underpinned, Curating Contemporary, online (curated by Anthony Falcetta)
Steady Mess, Bureau of General Services, Queer Division, New York, NY
Postcards from the Edge, Metro Pictures, New York, NY (Organized by Visual AIDS)
Object and Influence, Hygienic Gallery, New London, CT (curated by Jason Silva)
2016
Casheesh, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
Our City, The New School, New York, NY (organized by Thomas Hammer)
Common Ground, Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia (curated by Vika Dushkina) (cat.)
The Retrieval of the Beautiful, The Painting Center, New York, NY (catalog)
Introductions, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Jim Osman)
2015
The Flat File: Year Three, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Brooklyn, NY
Remains to be Seen, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
2012
Grey Full, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY (curated by Geoffrey Young)
2011
Contemporary Drawings, Barton Art Galleries, Barton College, Wilson, NC
2010
Wall to Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Observant, ISE Foundation, New York, NY (curated by Vicki Sher)
2009
Next Wave Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Dan Cameron)
Whitey on the Moon, 106 Green, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Kanishka Raja)
Room Tones, St. Cecilia Convent, Brooklyn, NY (organized by Nathan Spondike)
Give Them What They Never Knew They Wanted, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY
Intus Tensio, or Appropriated Special, Centotto, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Paul D’Agostino)
2008
Monsters, RENTAL, New York, NY (curated by Robert Longo)
Making History, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY (curated by Yaelle Amir)
2007
Hard Times, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY
2005
Introspective Men, Madder 139 Gallery, London, England (curated by David Kefford)
Fresh Direct, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Sunday Afternoon, Match-Art, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Matthew Fisher + Christina Vassalo)
Pencil Me In, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
Cleanliness, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (curated by Adam Frank)
Playpen, The Drawing Center, New York, NY (curated by Austin Thomas)
2002
Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY
Lucky Draw, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Made in New York, Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield, MA (curated by John O’Connor)
SNAPSHOT, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
2001
Interval: New Art for a New Space, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY
Mitochondria Emancipation, Asian American Arts Centre, New York, NY (curated by Christine Kim)
All Hands, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY (curated by David Terry)
AIM 21/ Artist in the Marketplace, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY (cat.)
2000
SNAPSHOT, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
Fresh, Butler’s Laundromat, Skowhegan, ME (performance with Daniel Bozhkov)
Vermont Studio Center Resident Artists, Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
RESIDENCIES + FELLOWSHIPS
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2023-2024)
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 50th Anniversary Fellowship (2023)
MacDowell Fellowship (2023)
Windgate Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center (2022)
Open Studio Residency, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (2022)
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Painting (2021)
Art Omi: Artists (2021)
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (2020)
Museum of Arts and Design, NYC (2019)
NARS Foundation International Artist Residency (2019)
Vermont Studio Center, Full Fellowship (2019)
BRIC Workspace (2018)
The Millay Colony (2018)
The Wassaic Project (2018)
The Studios at MASS MoCA (2018)
Keyholder Residency, Lower East Side Printshop (2018 - 2019)
Vermont Studio Center (2018)
Fire Island Artist Residency (2016)
Studio Residency, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (2008, 2007)
NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellow in Drawing (2005)
Atlantic Center for the Arts (2002)
Emerging Artist Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park (2002)
Artist in the Marketplace Fellowship, Bronx Museum of the Arts (2001)
Skowhegan School of Painting + Sculpture Scholarship (2000)
Vermont Studio Center, Full Fellowship (1999)
VISITING ARTIST / LECTURES / PANEL DISCUSSIONS / TEACHING
2024 Instructor, Session 5: Wood + Fiber: A Marriage of Materials, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Summer 2024)
2023 Visiting Artist, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2023 Instructor, Session 6: Behind the Seams, Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC
2022 Visiting Artist, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2022 Faculty, Visiting Critic Program: International Focus, NYC Crit Club, New York, NY (Fall)
2022 Artist Lecture, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2022 Faculty, Conversations in Practice, Ox-Bow School of Art + Residency, Saggatuck, MU
2022 Facutly, Visiting Critic Program, NYC Crit Club, New York, NY (Spring)
2021 Adjunct Professor, Foundation Drawing I, SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY (Fall Semester)
2021 Visiting Artist, NY Crit Club, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Visiting Artist, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
2021 Artist Lecture, University of Kentucky, School of Art + Visual Studies, Lexington, KY
2021 Artist Lecture, University of Arkansas, School of Art, Fayetteville, AR
2021 Artist Lecture, City + Guilds London Art School, London, UK
2021 Artist Lecture, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
2020 Panelist. Working with Fiber. MAD Museum + Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. A conversation with Paolo Arao, Dance Doyle and Erin M. Riley (moderated by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy)
2020 Artist Lecture, School of Art, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
2020 Artist Lecture, American University, Washington, D.C.
2020 Panelist. The Devil is in the Details. Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago. A conversation with Paolo Arao, Diana Guerrero-Maciá and Marie Watt (moderated by Tim Doud and Zoë Charlton)
2020 Visiting Artist, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Adjunct Professor, Visual Thinking, Fordham University, New York, NY (Fall Semester)
2019 Visiting Artist, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Abstract Painting: Wrong Questions, Right Answers. DC Moore Gallery, NYC. A panel discussion with Paolo Arao, Amie Cunat, Carrie Moyer and Odili Donald Odita (moderated by Richard Kalina)
2019 Visiting Artist, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
2017 Visiting Artist, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Visiting Artist, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Visiting Artist, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
2003 Visiting Artist, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022
Jenkins, Mark. “Connecting modern abstraction with personal identity.” The Washington Post, March 11, 2022.
Arango, Jorge S. “There’s much to read between the lines of Rockland Exhibit.” Portland Press Herald, February 13.2022.
2021
Wertz, Orion. “Paolo Arao: In Dialog with Drawing at the Columbus Museum.” Burnaway. April 6, 2021.
2020
Dovetail Magazine, Issue 2, Winter/Spring. December 2020.
Jaeger, William. “Airport gallery gets real and textured with ‘Cut + Color’”Times Union. August 31, 2020.
2019
Langevin, Julien. Plastic Expressions in Particularity: Nature Moves in Tracy McKenna’s Shift at Able Baker Contemporary. Art Spiel, November 21, 2019.
TxP (Textiel Plus), Issue 249, COLOR, August, 2019, The Netherlands.
Barcio, Phillip. “Richard Kalina Curates an Abstract Art Show at DC Moore Gallery.” IdeelArt Magazine. July 3, 2019
Arnold, Sharon. “Color, Conduits & Connectivity.” Bridge Productions, Seattle, WA. June 2019
Couzens, Julia. “Legacy of the Hand: Paolo Arao’s Textile Paintings.” Two Coats of Paint. May 11, 2019
2018
ArtNews.com, Pictures at an Exhibition: “Afterimage at Paradice Palase, Brooklyn.” November 30, 2018
Strumfeld, Zan. "On the Cover." Chronogram. July 2018. p. 18 (plus cover image)
Esopus, Issue 25, Spring Issue, Brooklyn, NY
New American Paintings, North Eastern Ed., Vol. 134, Open Studio Press, Boston, MA
Maake Magazine, Issue 6 (curated by Holly Coulis)
2017
Profile: Paolo Arao, The Coastal Post, December 2017
Murphy, Olivia. Paolo Arao – Yearbook 2016. Yearbook Paintings: Queering Abstraction.
Hannum, Terence. “Painting Not Painting.” B-More Art, August, 14, 2017
ArtMaze Magazine, Issue 02, April, 2017
Terra Firma Magazine, Issue 04, Speed= Distance / Time, February, 2017
2016
Artist Interview, FLOORR Magazine, Issue No. 5, August, 2016
Stone, Bryony. i-D Magazine, The Queer Artists of Fire Island, July 14, 2016
2011
Modern Painters, 100 Artists to Watch, December 1, p. 60
2008
Fusco, Maria. The Happy Hypocrite: Issue 1 – Linguistic Hardcore, Bookworks, London
Fisher, Matthew. “The Distance of Drawing.” Matthews the Younger blogspot
2006
Risemberg, Rafael, “A Weekend in the Country.” The New York Blade, April 3: p.16
2005
New American Paintings, North Eastern Ed., Vol. 56, Open Studio Press, Boston, MA
Harper’s Magazine, Readings, January, p. 22
Orden, Abraham. “Circus Without a Tent.” Artnet.com, February 11.
2004
VOGUE (Portugal), November p.104
The New York Sun, Calendar, October 19, p.15
Iwasaki Hitomi, Robert Lee and Timothy Liu. Mitochondria Emancipation, Asian American Arts Centre, New York, NY
2001
Smith, Roberta. “Funky Digs with Lots of Space for Performance-Oriented Hipsters.” The New York Times. September 28. E39.
Ramoran, Edwin, and Lydia Yee. Artist in the Market Place: 21st Annual Exhibition. Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY