WORK

2024    2023    2022


BROOKLYN MUSEUM INSTALLATION
Oct 2024




PEPE PUNCHING BAG




When I was a kid I had a yellow rubber tetherball I dangled underneath my loft bed. I would punch it repeatedly for long periods of time, feeling a flow state as I listened to rock music.






MUSCLE MAN
2022-2024









SWEATER? I HARDLY KNOW HER


This is the first sweater I ever knitted.





WRESTLERS, SELF PORTRAIT
2024

drop cloth,  acylic paint, yarn, hair
44” x  18” x  22”





My doctor told me to eat 3 square meals so now all I eat is tofu and sugar cubes and a whole lotta ice am I right? someone better common and shoot me










HERE’S THE SUN, ITS ON THE HOUSE
2024

drop cloth, airbrush, embroidery

48 wide 39 tall 15 deep






Everyday 
feels like my first 
Every conversation 
I do my best 
to not rehearse 
The sun has beams 
A house does too
Both unseen 
Two by two 








DAY SUN, NIGHT SUN
2024


Characters depicted in a previous work, “Here’s the Sun its on the House”








DIVIDED BY BODY WEAVING
2024


58X56
cut up oil painting (by Luke Osborn), found objects



I count my steps when I'm walking if it's any short distance, like if I get up from the table to get water. Seeking constant order and balance even when unnecessary. I feel like if I fall off my path I will never find my way back, I'm not sure what the path is but I am beckoned towards something, and all spontaneity or change infringes on its expression. I admire my grandmother greatly. She is a devout Catholic. I often feel a kinship with very religious people though I am not one. When you are devout to something I believe you put yourself in a stable hierarchy. There should be something bigger than you. You should surrender regularly. No one should be the most important thing in their lives, nor do I think anyone wants to be, it's too large a burden to carry. Without a larger power to guide us we are left only to follow our own confused commands. What are you devoted to? How can you surrender?






SO HELP ME GOD FLAG
2024

104X86
drop cloth, paint, crayon,  natural dye, embroidery



I have been drawn to putting more words in my work. It occurred to me recently that this may have to do with not having learned to read or write until I was 12. I first learned to write in cursive. It was often reflected back to me throughout childhood and adolescence that I was doing the wrong thing. Most of the time to my surprise and confusion, but over time to gain control of my own narrative, on purpose. Written words represent power and embody freedom to me. Growing up without school, I desperately wanted to document my days as a way of keeping myself company, but was trapped by illiteracy. So help me god was a phrase that would run through in my head as I looked at street signs wishing I could read them.  The first day I went to a public school I was 15. Standing for the national anthem, it occurred to me I had never been unified with a group in such a pronounced way. It felt like a privilege to do the same thing as everyone else. This feeling of gentile excitement around inclusion is an underlying buzz throughout my existence. Any time I check my bank account, go to the post office, or do any task an adult would, I feel grateful to be included in life.  








SO HELP ME GOD QUILT
2024

56X40
fabric, rope embroidery, airbrush






America has no one culture, each person in their own world. Though most of us do, it's hard to make accurate assumptions about others. People often surprise each other in America, as we are grasping at air when meeting new people. People are not born with a purpose like how animals are, making it our life’s quest to find this purpose and hone it. This physiological burden of humanity feels all the more present in the United states. With no common culture, and our primary value as a nation being independence, most people at some point, if not their whole lives, are trying to figure out how to move forward alone, as there is no organic path. If independence is our highest value, then isn't making your own American flag more American then the American flag itself?  I used to like to talk about these kinds of things with Trevor Stoughtenbug. He bought a large beautiful vintage american flag somewhat near the end of his life. It was my favorite thing in his apartment.




COOPERATIVE BANK
2024


42X31
fabric, airbrush, embroidery





This is how much money was in my bank account that day.







SHOW ME THE MONEY
2024


40X46
fabric, natural dye,  paint, sequence , embroidery 






Show me the money, is a phrase that got stuck in my head for months. I was writing it down in notebooks, not sure where it came from, not really interested in finding out. If I stand back, it seems like a good metaphor for honesty. I have a very short fuse for small and medium talk. I want to play like crazy children or have physiologically revealing interactions. Show me the money.






DIVIDED BY BODY NET
2024

4ftX39
fabric, rope,  airbrush













STUFFED ANIMIAL WALL

2024

90X50yarn, fabric, paint







Stuffed animal wall 

I want to connect 

So i'll catch glimpses 

With my net


A net is a grid

And if you fall off 

You will find yourself

In a box


Im looking for patterns

To make an equation 

Of how to optimize

Every sensation


I have no self

Only urges I follow

Spit on my face

I'll open and swallow 











PASAMONTAÑAS
2024




These balaclavas are meant to do what a beautifully sequined dress for a quinceañera or wedding does. Signify a special time, highlight the wearer's beauty, and speak to our similarities while highlighting our individuality. 





 



WHO IS FRANKIE MUNDO?
2024


53X70
Fabric Paint







“This work is a tribute to the place I call home, The Lodge.”










SUGARCUBE
2024

87 X 35
Yarn, Fabric, Cereal boxes, Paint, Beads





“What would happen if I only took what I wanted, instead of eating every sugarcube?”











SALT, TIDE, KNIFE
Winter 2024
















Photos by ERIK GOULD
Site by JRF








© CELESTE DIAZ  FALZONE 2024