You don’t ask a beautiful question with your strategic mind. That’s needed, but the last place it gets articulated. You ask it with your body. You ask it with your longing. And you can ask a beautiful question in complete silence with no verbalization whatsoever, just in the way you’re paying attention.
-David Whyte
Tal Placido’s large-scale abstract paintings begin with a conversation. Instead of working on blank primed canvas, Placido paints on vintage linens, embracing their stains, snags, and embellishments. A native of the Philippines, Placido is attuned to the family stories and lived experiences that she literally weaves into her work. The images she presents in Meeting Place are a record of the dialogue between experience-laden objects and an artist more concerned about thoughtful questions than concrete answers.
Placido takes the methodology for Meeting Place from the work of poet David Whyte, who frequently discusses the idea of beautiful questions, in which the quality of a question affects the depth and direction of the answer that follows. Placido’s paintings ask beautiful questions about cultural inheritance, embodied knowledge, and the moments of contact that shape identity. Her background in music, fashion, and design also adds depth to this multilayered approach, adding richness and nuance to her work.
Tal Placido: Meeting Place is part of the Everson CNY Artist Initiative, an exhibition program that celebrates the multi-faceted talents of regional artists. The Everson is supported by the General Operating Support program, a regrant program of the County of Onondaga with the support of County Executive, J. Ryan McMahon II, and the Onondaga County Legislature, administered by CNY Arts; and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Tal Placido
sing to me the yellow pages, 2024
Acrylic, gouache, oil stick, oil pastels, and graphite on antique textile on board, 36 x 36 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Tal Placido
your life you like it well, 2024
Acrylic, gouache, oil stick, oil pastels, and graphite on antique textile, 60 x 60 inches
Courtesy of the artist
About the Artist:
Tal Placido is a multidisciplinary artist, currently working at the intersection of painting, material research, and cultural memory. Placido’s large-scale abstract paintings draw from personal myth, intuitive process, and historical research. With a background in music, fashion, and design, Placido brings a multi-dimensional sensibility to her visual work, shaped by both instinct and inquiry. In 2024, she presented her solo exhibition Actor, Agent, Author at Art Gotham Gallery in New York City, and her work has been featured at VOLTA New York, the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, and in publications including Vogue, Business of Home, and Aspire Design Home. She lives and works in Central New York.
The Everson is supported by the General Operating Support program, a regrant program of the County of Onondaga with the support of County Executive, J. Ryan McMahon II, and the Onondaga County Legislature, administered by CNY Arts; and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
