Insignificant Things (With Significance)

Insignificant Things
(With Significance)

100 Days, 100 Paintings

The Discipline of the Hour For 100 consecutive days, I committed to a ritual of observation and speed. My rules were absolute: each piece was completed alla-prima in under an hour, with no corrections allowed once the session ended. Most of this collection is rendered in traditional oil paints, embracing the rich, buttery texture of the medium while working against its slow-drying nature to capture a singular, unedited moment in time. However, when life took me away from the studio, the medium shifted; the pieces created during my travels are watercolors, reflecting the portability and fluidity of life on the move.

The Meaning in the Mundane The Meaning in the Mundane The subjects of these paintings are the quiet witnesses of my daily life: a jar from the pantry, a bottle from the bathroom cabinet, the "insignificant" objects that populate my home. To a passing glance, they are utilitarian; to me, they are vessels of memory. My binational life—rooted in my Mexican heritage, my life in the US and and guided by a lifelong affinity for Japanese culture that feels as deep as a past-life connection allows me to see these objects through a dual lens. A simple spice jar or a household tool becomes a bridge between cultures, forged by a history of movement and the blending of traditions.

Permission to Play This project was born from a desire to grant myself full permission: permission to experiment, to fail, and to find joy. Working exclusively on a vertical 6x4" format, I embraced the quirky compositions that emerged. Some objects outgrew their boundaries or leaned into the frame, appearing larger than life as I fought to fit their character into the small canvas. In keeping with the raw honesty of this challenge, I have chosen to present these works unframed. This allows the viewer to see the physical edge of the session, the marks where the paint meets the boundary of the canvas, reminding us that life, like this project, is best experienced without barriers.

By elevating these mundane objects, I aim to evoke a sense of wonder and bring a smile to the viewer’s face. I hope these 100 paintings serve as a reminder that within the constraints of an hour and a small canvas, there is infinite room to remember and create.

Cost

free to public

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