WORK
2024 2023 2022
BROOKLYN MUSEUM INSTALLATION
Oct 2024
COT RED HANDED
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. Dimensions: 45"X62"
THE HOUSE THAT SPITS YOU OUT
This work is based on a drawing I found in a highschool journal. I attempted for a time to document dreams, but I have far too many and putting them into words feels disrespectful of the vast and divine subconscious. I often dream of houses, and I remember in one dream each room feeling like a different emotion. Each emotion was so intense, I was thrown from room to room until I was spat out.
Dimensions: 45"X47"
PEPE PUNCHING BAG
Dimensions: 53”X 12”
MUSCLE MAN
Muscle man is a character who is only made of muscle, missing his skin and bone.
SWEATER? I HARDLY KNOW HER
This is the first sweater I ever knitted.
WRESTLERS, SELF PORTRAIT
My doctor told me to eat 3 square meals a day, so now all I eat is tofu, sugar cubes and a whole lotta ice
Dimensions: 44” wide, 18” tall, 22” deep
HERE’S THE SUN, ITS ON THE HOUSE
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
Dimensions: 48” wide 39” tall 15” deep
DAY SUN, NIGHT SUN
Characters depicted in a previous work, “Here’s the Sun its on the House”
DIVIDED BY BODY WEAVING
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?
Dimensions: 58”X56”
SO HELP ME GOD FLAG
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.
Dimensions: 104”X86”
COOPERATIVE BANK
This is how much money was in my bank account that day.Dimensions: 42”X31”
SHOW ME THE MONEY
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. Dimensions: 40”X46”
DIVIDED BY BODY NET
Divided by body
Confined to our mind
The end always coming
We count life in time
Dimensions: 4’X39”
STUFFED ANIMIAL WALL
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
Dimensions: 90”X50”
PASAMONTAÑAS
2024
These balaclavas are meant to do what a 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?
This work is a tribute to the place I call home, The Lodge.
Dimensions: 53”X70”
SUGARCUBE
“What would happen if I only took what I wanted, instead of eating every sugarcube?”
Dimensions: 87”X35”
SALT, TIDE, KNIFE
Winter 2024
Standing on a beach
no work to be done
confronted by me
desperate and numb
Work is the vacation
I don't want to be here
But busy hearts don't stop
endlessly tormented
Always following, doom
If I cannot vanish
I need to consume
When your over the pain
And under the knife
Try pinching salt, or cutting tides
Photos by ERIK GOULD
Site by JRF