Souvenir Tables

The process of my souvenir tables! They started off with plywood, were coated with spray paint, and then painted on with acrylic.

My first one is of a hot dog. It involves the clash of both cultures I am part of: El Salvadoran and American. Souvenirs in El Salvador are vibrant with color and have different subjects painted on them. I did tables (because it was my assignment) and decided to incorporate the El Salvadoran style with common American foods.

More tables to come!

Plywood Pupusas

 I have started the process of making the pupusas--El Salvador's traditional dish. I finished cutting them out from boards of plywood tonight. However, I still have to sand them, coat them with house paint, and paint the details with acrylic.

The pupusas after they have been cut out from boards of plywood.

After using the sanders to manipulate them into the shape I want them in, I take a sheet of 60 grit sandpaper to scrape off any leftover imperfections; I finish by using a sheet of 180 grit sandpaper to create a soft texture. Sometimes sandpaper can't even out all gaps, so I have started using wood filler, which is what the blotchy spots are on the wood.

They are painted with house paint so that the wood absorbs the paint to make it easier to paint the details over with acrylic.

While not completely finished, these are prototypes of what they begin to look like after being painted on with acrylic.

Forty-eight have been cut out and all are in a different stage of my process; I decided to give everyone at the table one serving of three, and when multiplied by 16 (family members), I get forty-eight.  

Items such as rice and liquids will be measured differently, but as to how, I am not sure yet. So stay tuned!

Family Reunion

The installation that I'm working on will be comprised of a table and will have platters of El Salvadoran food on it. I have been wanting to create food sculptures like those of Claes Oldenburg but at a smaller scale (I want the food sculptures to be the sizes the real food is). I'm still in the process of developing the idea, but i want each seat at the table to have an item or engraving on it that represents members from the Arriaga family; It's my interpretation of a family tree.

Plywood with house and acrylic paint.

My wood fried plantains next to my lunch.

Sixth Cyborg in Series Underway

My cyborg series started with mechanical limbs on models. I enjoyed working with the human body and making the mechanical parts appear flat and composed of basic shapes.















I wanted to try something different and decided to turn my cyborgs into amputees. I only did two of these paintings before I realized that I wanted to work more with the cyborg theme.

This is my current painting in my cyborg series. I was beginning to work with the male figure because I realized I use the female body the most. However, I defaulted to a female figure for this one because I wanted to try a darker skin tone on a familiar body shape; I didn't realize how generic the skin tones were appearing on all my paintings. I hope to paint two, dark skinned male cyborgs for the last two paintings in my series.