Grounds play a pivotal role in Tal Placido’s works. The Central New York artist uses an array of vintage and antique fabrics as surfaces for her paintings. “The canvas I use is important to me, and I like the meaning behind certain textiles,” she tells Business of Home.
Born in the Philippines and raised in San Francisco and Dallas, Placido was always an artist. She’s been a performing singer-songwriter since she was old enough to drive herself to shows, and she moved to New York City as a young adult to pursue a career in music and fashion design. After her son was born, she moved upstate and started a luxury baby bag line while working as a creative director for a live music promotions company.
Everything changed when the pandemic hit: Placido’s music tour came to an abrupt halt, and she was forced to find fresh ways to be creative. Being stuck at home brought fresh inspiration: “I wanted large-scale paintings on the walls but didn’t have a large-scale budget,” she says. “I stretched a canvas drop cloth over some wood I had in the garage and started painting.”
She worked her way through a tub of vintage linens she found in her attic, then turned an antique table runner into living room wall art. “I was in love with how it turned out, so I started painting on vintage textiles,” says the artist.
When the world opened back up, she began showing her textile-based paintings at galleries throughout New York and was quickly approached about custom designs. “The owner of Art Gotham asked me to turn a 12-foot Belgian linen tablecloth from her mother-in-law’s wedding 20 years ago into a painting,” says Placido. “She wanted it to be a piece of art she could appreciate instead of a pile of fabric in her linen closet.”
Today, her bespoke designs include everything from hand-painted pillowcases and silk scarves to textile collages composed of fabrics a client inherited from her grandmother. “We all have these types of material things we hold on to because of the memories attached to them, even if they no longer serve a practical purpose,” says Placido. “Using art to help someone preserve a meaningful experience in their life is so special to me.”
Along with employing an array of materials, the artist uses a medley of tools and techniques to bring her pieces to life. “Sometimes a painting calls for brushstrokes, and other times I use my fingers,” she says. “I will experiment with anything on hand to see what kind of mark it makes—the wrong end of a paintbrush, an old hotel key card, even a wire whisk.”
Currently hard at work on her first solo exhibition, “Actor Agent Author” (on display at Art Gotham from September 12 through October 12), Placido wants to continue to craft paintings with a point of view. “I’m interested in the narratives we create about ourselves, and how we shape them to make sense of our experiences,” she says. “Our stories hold energy, and when we share them, we build deeper connections and live more intentionally.”
If you want to learn more about Tal Placido, visit her website or Instagram.
