2019 MAY–JUN

Daniel Palillo moves between mediums

Daniel Palillo, our artist/designer-in-residence May–June 2019, enjoys experimenting with different materials and mediums. During his time in New York, Palillo will focus on collecting background material for an upcoming series of textile art pieces inspired by the culture and characters of the city.

Daniel Palillo, Funny Face, Furry Face, Jacket, Museum of modern art Chengdu, 2018.

Palillo started his career as a fashion designer, but after focusing on designing and producing garments for ten years, he had accomplished his goals in this discipline.

Thus, Palillo moved on to explore the more unknown territories of visual art. During recent years, he has created works spanning from paintings to textile works and sculptures to installations and design collaborations. Merging the lines between disciplines feels natural to him.

“When I started out as a fashion designer, I could have designed coffee cups or chairs, it just happened to be clothes at the time. But even though I designed under my own name and brand, the fashion industry still had a very demanding production and presentation schedules that had to be followed – and that didn’t allow me enough creative freedom to try out other things.”

During his 2-month residency in New York, Palillo aims to do research and start a design process for a new series of textile art pieces.

Daniel Palillo, Paintings About the Fashion World, Selfportrait, 2015.

“I’m planning to get to know my imaginary friends. Inspired by the city, I will start sketching how they look like. After returning to Helsinki, my aim is to share my observations of the people I have met in New York through three-dimensional textile characters.”

Palillo’s work has always been fueled by ideas he gets when traveling around the world, but New York holds a very special place in his heart. He often draws inspiration from observing people, and for that The City That Never Sleeps offers a fertile ground. 

“American popular culture has influenced me throughout my career. The book shops, art museums, supermar­kets and comic book stores in New York are an endless source of inspiration for me. There’s an infinite amount of stimuli and something crazy happening somewhere all the time. It will be interesting to find out what kind of new dimensions the residency period will add to my work.”   

Palillo’s work will be next exhibited at Times Art Museum in Beijing this summer.

Daniel Palillo, Blue, Grey and Green, Powerlong Museum Shanghai, 2018.