City of santa ana
In a Popsicle’s Space
In a Popsicle’s Space will be a series of paintings in various sizes spanning 4’x6’ - 6’x8’, oil on canvas that will deconstruct a variety of popsicles by viewing them in unfamiliar places. Popsicles are iconic in many communities and they create dialogue with their need to please others through what they have to offer or what they lack.
The funds acquired through this grant will be used to purchase the supplies and materials necessary to create these paintings from construction of canvas infrastructures, to hand-stretching of canvases, and the art that goes onto them. This is the method I am accustomed to as it enables me to be immersed in the creative process from concept to final result in addition to maintaining these larger scale paintings within budget. In addition, I would like an art assistant as support on this project and professional website development to support my art practice and promote this grant project. No additional City of Santa Ana resources are needed in the creation of this project.
In a Popsicle’s Space is a brand new project, stemming from my years of work that touches on the in-betweens of cultures that exists in bi-cultural, bi-national, and bi-lingual communities. The struggle to find a completeness or a space in a place that is unknown. This is a universal longing, a craving, that manifests itself physically and metaphorically regardless of the flavors, shapes, or colors of the world.
Through these works I will revisit positive nostalgia associated with childhood and my own desire for the Bomb Pop, a yearning for comfort or satisfaction in one’s own space. With the juxtaposed imagery of popsicles and culturally referential depictions, I also aim to examine the human desire for substance in life and how we may sometimes create false hopes and are left with a void because of unattained goals, fears of language, being lost, or the unknown.
The completed series of paintings will display as a solo exhibition in Santa Ana which will be free to the public and all ages. This exhibition will also be taken to Calexico to further discussion about the themes of unknown spaces that are borderless, cross-national, and cross-generational.
This project will bring to the Santa Ana arts and culture community the invitation to conquer one’s aspirations and to do so without restraint. It will bring forth a dialogue in Santa Ana that is everlasting because of the social inconsistencies that exist due to fear of diversity or change. This series will consist of visuals that resonate with the population, challenge thought, and encourage to think more critically about how we have fulfilled our desires of space and contributed to our own lives and the lives of others.
What I would like to achieve in the project is to further the dialogue about unknown places. Furthermore, it is to fill that void of emptiness and leave you with substance and a lasting impression.