Paper Sculpture Art
Title: "Transformation Ballad" (2023)
Style: 34" x 28" x 3.5" | Acrylic on Folded & Layered Paper, Transferred Photographs, Canvas
Inspiration: This piece deconstructs karaoke as a medium of escape and navigates the liminal space that is opened through the act of singing. The pleated paper draws the eye to the center, focusing on a single core memory.
Title: "The Land's Shapeshifter" (2023)
Style: 30" x 24" x 4" | Acrylic on Folded & Layered Paper, Transferred Photographs, Canvas
Inspiration: Through the visual juxtaposition of the self and spiritual animals, this piece reflects on the inner strength and resilience we all share underneath the skin.
Title: "Mango Heart" (2023)
Style: 33" x 24" x 3.5" | Acrylic on Folded & Layered Paper, Transferred Photographs, Canvas
Inspiration: This piece is a revision from a previous project, expanding on themes of memory and identity. The mango has developed into a symbol of love and happiness and signals a period of returning to our past to reconnect. Within the leaves and folded paper are portraits and memories pulled from my life using an image transfer technique.
Title: "Watered Down" (2023)
Style: 30" x 24" | Acrylic on Folded & Layered Paper
Inspiration: This piece was loosely based off of a distant dream I once had. It is the beginning of a desire to include more symbolism through water in my future artwork.
Title: "Red Fans" (2023)
Style: Paper Cutting & Weaving
Inspiration: This piece is simply a collection of creations- various fans and bows -made in practice for forming larger pieces that consist of multiple fans working in unison together.
Pantry: Food Sculpture Series
The pieces in this collection all represent different parts of the food and dining culture of American-Filipino families. As seen in the work, Filipino culture has a big emphasis on family gatherings and many people sharing all of the food together. Most of the pieces display and show items unique to and popular in Filipino culture.
Title: "A Small Family Reunion" (2022)
Style: 30" x 24" | Acrylic on Folded & Layered Paper
Inspiration: This piece is titled ironically to show the difference between Filipino culture and many other cultures when it comes to family dinner and parties. As shown here, Filipino family gatherings are very large but proportionally-speaking, that actually makes a gathering like the one featured here a small one. It is common for many Filipino children to meet new titas and cousins every gathering- though, they usually say they have known us since we were very small.
Title: "Bridge" (2022)
Style: 30" x 24" | Acrylic on Folded & Layered Paper and Collage
Inspiration: This piece depicts my family's old dining table and some of my favorite foods- notably, traditional Filipino cuisine, such as sisig.
The bridge in the background represents how food can be used to connect people. In this case, it connects me to the rest of my family and culture. This piece relates to the persistent identity issue many Asian-Americans face, often feeling disconnected from their family roots. Food plays an important role in bringing people together and share our individual and collective stories.
Title: "Dried Mangoes" (2022)
Style: 24" x 11" x 2.5" | Acrylic & Ink on Folded Paper Mounted on Wooden Frame, Clear Thread
Inspiration: Mangoes are one of the biggest staples of the Philippines. Unlike in other cultures, such as America, fruit is not reserved for just breakfast or dessert. It is common for Filipino households to provide fruit as a snack for guests, and many Filipinos eat fruit throughout the day at any given time.
Due to its popularity, the mango has expanded beyond just fruit on a tree to many various enjoyable forms, including gummies and dried mangoes.
Title: "Ube Ensaymada" (2022)
Style: 24" x 11" x 2.5" | Acrylic & Ink on Folded Paper Mounted on Wooden Frame, Clear Thread
Inspiration: From cheesecake to ice cream to chips, Ube- which means "tuber" in Tagalog- is a very popular vegetable (also called a purple yam) that is found everywhere you go that has Filipino influence and culture.
The piece here features one popular form that most Filipino children grew up eating, which is Ube Ensaymada- a sweet bread (brioche-style) made with Ube.
Title: "Banana Ketchup" (2022)
Style: 24" x 11" x 2.5" | Acrylic & Ink on Folded Paper Mounted on Wooden Frame, Clear Thread
Inspiration: Banana Ketchup, which is made from sugar, vinegar, spices, and pureed banana, is a popular condiment commonly found at most Filipino gatherings. It is surprisingly similar to traditionally ketchup, though much sweeter.
Title: "Abstract Aquatics" (2022)
Style: Paper Cutting & Weaving
Inspiration: This piece, inspired by waves and water, was made simply as practice for larger paper folding works.
Title: "Tangled In Transformation" (2022)
Style: 26" x 21" Acrylic on Layered Paper & Cardboard
Inspiration: This piece utilizes layered paper and contour drawings to create a scene where the body is going through continuous transformation.
Title: "Unfolding" (2022)
Style: 32" x 28" | Acrylic & Ink on Folded Paper
Inspiration: A piece that explores the complexity of identity and self, represented by the many individual and group folds that make up the portrait featured here. The abstract-like shapes to the different paper folds also symbolize feeling lost and navigating through emotions and identity.
This piece received a National Gold Medal through The National Scholastics Arts and Writing Awards while I was a teenager at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.