NASHVILLE, TENN.- The Frist Art Museum presents Plexus No. 47, a new long-term installation by artist Gabriel Dawe. The vast suspended work is the latest in the Frist’s Art in the Atrium series and will be on view in the space from April 15, 2026 through April 30, 2028.
Gabriel Dawe (b. 1973) was born in Mexico City and is now based in Dallas. He works with various media and is known for the large, site-specific installations in his Plexus series. Plexus No. 47 is composed of long arrangements of colored threads zigzagging across the atrium like refracted beams of light. Like other works in Dawe’s Plexus series, this installation is rooted in the science of optics. It evokes the spectrum of hues that occurs as light is dispersed by a glass prism or when a rainbow forms after a storm. “Illuminated by the clerestory windows above, these threads are so close together that they may seem to blend in the eyes of the beholder, appearing as a colorful mist,” says Frist Art Museum Chief Curator Mark Scala.

Throughout his life and career, Dawe has been interested in architecture and fashion and how they both relate to protecting the body, as well as the social and gender constructs associated with textile crafts. An early fascination with the sky and the symbolism of light and color also motivate his artistic practice. Evoking the complexity of these themes, he named the Plexus installation series after the network of nerves or vessels informing and sustaining the human body.

At the Frist, Plexus No. 47 spans the entire width of the atrium, filling the entrance to the galleries. In a statement about the installation, Dawe noted the particular proportions he had to work with at the Frist. “While the space is relatively narrow, it possesses both soaring height and great length, which allowed me to explore the idea of emulating a bouncing beam of light.”

The work may also evoke the stained-glass windows of cathedrals, in which colored light can seem to originate from a heavenly source. While the installation is not intended to trigger a religious experience, it may nonetheless inspire a shared experience of the sublime. Dawe says, “We live in an era of great chaos, and it’s important to me to be a voice that reminds us of the beauty that exists around us that we must hold onto so that we do not fall into despair. My hope is that Plexus No. 47 will offer viewers a reminder of the light that exists within us all and inspires them to use that light as a source of motivation to build a brighter future together.”

Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe’s work has been exhibited in Belgium, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. After living in Montreal, Canada, for seven years, he moved to Dallas, TX, where he obtained his MFA at the University of Texas at Dallas. For the final two years of his degree, he was an artist in residence at the CentralTrak program at UT Dallas. His work has been installed in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, and the Denver Art Museum, and, in 2015, a work in his Plexus series was part of the opening of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Numerous publications have featured his work, including Sculpture magazine; Art Fundamentals, published by McGraw-Hill; and the book Raw + Material = Art: Found, Scavenged and Upcycled by Tristan Manco.