Tufted panaceas: Exhibition of abstract works features art celebrating joy of life

Upon entering Rachal Comminos’ exhibition, “These Days,” at the Clark Gallery at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the artist’s sense of joy becomes palpable through her brightly hued textile works.

“These Days” continues Comminos’ signature tufted rug technique that transforms her feelings into an elegy informed by the loss of a parent, the recovery process, and the pure joy that each day of life offers. She affectionately refers to them as soft, lovable pieces of art.

The works are designated according to her expressive intent. Losing her father a few years back pushed her into a period of intense self-reflection and initiated her “Portal” series.

According to Comminos, “The first piece after his death was the large ‘Portal to Anywhere,’ it became a way to get my mind elsewhere, anywhere but where it currently was, the state of death and who I was after that. The ‘Portals’ really took me to a place that I wanted to be.”

The portal concept shows quadrant shapes surrounding a central “Portal,” a place to go into and escape the pains of this world. The large “Portal 08” exemplifies this group through its diagonally fluid curvilinear quadrants framing a vertical portal. Each shape resonates with smaller colorful versions of itself held snugly within its matrix, creating a pulsating feeling; the preponderance of warmer colors and ‘Bursts’ tell us that this is a desirable yet complex place to be.

While the “Portals” concept focuses on pulling us inward, the ‘Bursts’ pieces reverse the current with an outward push. “Large Burst 05” symbolizes healing wounds, be they physical or psychological. Elongated and rounded amorphic sections gradually expand as they surge outward from a central point.

“They are bursting out of their wounds; they’re healing the wounds,” Comminos said. “They’re also like bursts of life, so they’re about becoming a new person once you’ve lost a parent and finding your way and blossoming.” The “Bursts” speak joyful exclamations of being.

The “Six Pack” designs show us targets with varied emotional impacts. “Six Pack 03” features a dark ground behind the targets creating an underlying feeling of conflict against the brighter target forms, depicting visible pain. With the target symbols containing the emotional extremes the artists experienced during that time, we can feel the struggle and conflict of the healing process.

The clearly defined abstract shapes are warmly engaging through the tufted yarn process combined with the artists intuitive exuberant colorations. Comminos wants us to connect with these works not only as pleasant materials, but through our memories, reminiscences that might take us back to less complicated times. Her artistic intuitions have a familial core and during the making process, she muses about yarn choices someone’s mother could have made, patterns or colors found in a favorite sweater from another decade, or maybe a grandmother’s needlework. The tactile experience of the materials themselves encourages reflective connections to profound moments, memories, or experiences in our own lives.

“During my artistic process is when I am able to communicate and dwell within myself. In showing these works, I am communicating, displaying, and sharing pieces of me. There is no disconnect between myself and my work,” she concluded.

There are still a few days left to visit this exhibition. Need to de-stress? Plan a visit.

Rachal Comminos: ‘These Days’

WHERE: Charles and Dorothy Clark Art Gallery, UTRGV Edinburg campus, ELABS 1st floor

WHEN: Through Oct. 31

HOURS: Call ahead

CONTACT: (956) 665-7030

Nancy Moyer, Professor Emerita of Art, is an art critic for The Monitor. She may be reached at [email protected].