A Parallel Planets piece by Pepe Serapio
Parallel Planets presents Paula Morales
in Homeworlds: All’s Fair
A Space Invasion Series by Jofer Serapio
Mentioned: marrying football and religion, the lack of fear and the love of freedom, and cabinets
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Paula Morales' Soccer Jesus series was one of those things that caught my attention and never really let it go. It just grabbed me, threw me in the back of a van, and drove me blindfolded and hands tied to a place where uncertainty ruled. I can't even remember how I reacted that first time I saw a Liverpool shirt on Jesus Christ. Did I cry manly tears of joy at the marriage of football and the family's religion? Did I nervously look around, hoping that that grin on my face wouldn't get me excommunicated?
It wasn't the excommunication that scared me, though. And it wasn't really fear. It was more like not wanting to be that one Buddhist guy in a family of staunch Catholics. No one wants to be ostracized, especially not someone known for being socially awkward. But that was then, this is now: I did become that one Buddhist guy in a family of staunch Catholics but I also finally understood that art wouldn't be art if it wasn't big on freedom.
Funny, blunt, and with a genuine love for creating art, all three things reflected in her work, Paula's curiosity binds her to the mysteries of the universe. She has that unmistakable hunger for unlocking secrets, pursuing the answers to questions to the point of, let's say, obsession. There is no other word that can best represent how extreme she can get when it comes to her curiosities. She finds strength in her dreams that, much like her obsession with figuring things out, she just can't stop dreaming. That's probably like how I feel I'd die if I don't do anything with my brain.
There is no longer the fear to explore and experiment for Paula, especially in terms of the different mediums in art. Digital art might have already taken root in her, but she also has plenty of fight to dabble in wax and encaustic, collage, and resin. She even fuses the latter three, also her favorites, together. To her, art is a revolutionary act. For equality, for love, and for respect, freedom is inside of her, Libertad, and fear has no place in this battlefield.
That lack of fear and love of freedom seeps through her and into her personal space, her home world. The diversity of Paula's influences and sources of inspiration is great, as evident by the range of knickknacks visible on her wall. Don't let my preference for the term "knickknacks" fool you. The things on her wall include skulls, religious imagery, and even a photo of her grandmother. All these and more, Paula considers her passions.
As Paula is constantly creating, it's vital that her space, her home, is art-friendly. She spends days on end within this universe, going out only for her academic pursuits and to photograph whatever awesomeness she comes across. Should she find herself in the middle of a creative process, she can be found nowhere else but cooped up inside her space. Just like a mad scientist on the brink of a world-changed (ending?) invention. The exception, of course, is that Paula isn't mad. At least not more than the rest of us.
What keeps her busy these days?
"I am currently working on a long-term project that includes cabinets that explore who we are and identity in general," Paula explains. "I am currently working on cabinet number two. I am intrigued with mixing time periods, using an old tintype and converting it into a digital work of art."
In case you were wondering, cabinet number one worked with the following tagline: “We are what we leave behind. Memory, identity and history. Cabinet #1 of memories and clinical collections.”
Heads up, IKEA.
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