May Sundowner

From a distance, May Sundowner, 2009, by Pae White, suggests an abstract painting, but closer inspection reveals a woven composition of white plumes against a black backdrop. Installed as a free-hanging textile along the wall, 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 artis...