‘EVERY PIECE HAS A STORY’ El Espacio’s new art exhibition paints different textiles in a new light

You can weave it. Sew it. Crochet it. Quilt it. Paint it. Print it. Braid it. Dress in it. Sleep in it. Make it out of natural fibers or clay or metal or paper. Or even out of milk and dirt.

Forget what you know about textiles. “To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection” at El Espacio 23, a contemporary art space in Allapattah, pushes the medium’s boundaries. The new exhibition opens Nov. 2.

El Espacio 23 is a 28,000square-foot warehouse-turned-gallery space and artist residency program that features works from the collection of Jorge Pérez, the real estate mogul and art collector. Many of the works in the show have never been exhibited before.

“Art will always serve as a universal language that helps bridge cultures and brings people together,” Pérez said in a statement. “Textile works in particular open up a unique window into many diverse traditions, showing how everyday materials and timeless craftsmanship can come together to inspire new, unique methods of creative expression.”

“To Weave the Sky,” the space’s fourth exhibition, was a pet project for

Pérez collection curator Patricia Hanna over the last decade, she said. That was when the Pérez collection began acquiring textile artworks, specifically by five artists who are featured in the show: Olga de Amaral, Robert Motherwell, Polly Apfelbaum, Frances Trombly and Ximena Garrido-Lecca. The exhibition features almost 140 works by over 100 artists from around the world.

The show, which places textile works alongside sculptures, paintings, photos and installations, was curated by Mexico City-based curator Tobias Ostrander, who worked closely with Hanna and Anelys Alvarez, another Pérez collection curator.

Unlike previous El Espacio 23 exhibitions, such as the most recent show on Cuban diaspora art, “To Weave the Sky” focuses on a specific medium instead of a particular region. Textiles are much more