mel s2

“The dimension of presence in history—of people’s bodily presence in it, and of history’s presence in bodies, or of, put another way, the intrusion of reality—cannot be set aside.”

I find it interesting that, beyond the underlying meanings the objects invoke through their materiality, Overton is also interested in the history of the objects she works with. She goes beyond the history of the object as a whole, highlighting the individual histories of the object and of the people who have come across it. It’s kind of trippy to think about the individual history of objects, because it really does make us more aware of reality, basically a mushroom trip. But then she pushes me into a bad trip, because she’s not that interested in uncovering the history behind the materials; their mere existence is enough. I wish it wasn’t, but maybe by craving this research I’m fetishizing the objects and their past…

However, what is the problem with fetishization in sculpture? Truly. Tom give me some light

“Perth Amboy clearly plays on the analogy between the desire to see critical apparitions in art and the Catholic pilgrim’s belief in visions of the Virgin Isn’t it our Minimalist and Conceptual critical desire—the wish to discover resistance to capitalism’s power to make anything and everything into a commodity—that we’re being shown here? If that’s the case, Harrison suggests, then such critical rigor is as much an object of faith—Freud would say fantasy—as the Jersey Virgin.” 

https://greenenaftaligallery.com/exhibitions/rachel-harrison6

Perth Amboy is an installation consisting of a cardboard maze with hidden objects along the paths. On the walls surrounding the maze, there are pictures displayed, images of people touching a window where they believed the Virgin Mary had appeared. Rachel Harrison was just a freaking genius for making the analogy between Christian faith and minimalist/conceptual faith in defeating commodification. 

I loved reading this article because Harrison makes objects, but she doesn’t try to disguise what they are, she embraces them as objects and see the object hood in other things (images). She accepts their inevitable commodification, but by playing with this inevitability, she somehow subverts their “meaning.” Harrison doesn’t try to escape the conditions of the world per se; instead, by accepting its flaws and subverting them, she critiques the system with remarkable efficiency. Just beautiful, bringing objects back!

My question here would be: Does the repetition of an image, so many times, make it lose its original meaning?

“After all, the supermarket—unlike the art market—is precisely the sphere where the principle of artificial rarefication has neither value nor function, since the inexhaustible production of consumer-culture objects defines itself by the perpetual repetition and complete abolition of the singular, the specific, the concrete, and the presence of the tactile”

Well, this OROXXO project simply gagged me. I was rolling my eyes a little while reading about the La DS, 1993 piece because, in my opinion, it failed to subvert spectacle and fetishization, and it was still trapped in a private setting. I started second-guessing sculpture as a whole, it tries so hard to escape what “it is” and fails.

But then OROXXO gave me hope all over again. It was genius in the way it criticized consumerism while also playing with the art world and its market, which always finds a way to commodify everything it touches. A simple sticker turned common commodities into works of art—but that’s kind of how the art world has been working all along. It’s so simple, yet it exposes how ridiculous the art world, and us as consumers, can be. It’s just a beautiful play on the flaws of capitalism.

this is how i love

“It is science in the sense you are searching for something but you don’t even know what you are searching for”

There is a lot of beauty in experimentation—it is fascinating. While the USA was going through a period of scientific stagnation, Burden responded by creating an artistic form of science, not interested in the outcome but in the act of experimenting itself. These two factors could be unconsciously related—or not. If intentional, I would read it as a mockery. Burden was successful in his practice by allowing genuine searching, which I don’t think was the focus of the U.S. while engaged in the Cold War.

The idea of searching for something without even knowing what you’re looking for fascinated me so much that I considered ways to incorporate Burden’s “science” into my own practice. But it wouldn’t be genuine—that’s not what I’m truly into. Then I realized that I already do my own kind of “science” in my practice, and that excites me. I like to observe how people psychologically respond to the situations I put them through in my art.

 At the end of the documentary, before the credits, Burden compares his extreme performances at the beginning of his career to what master painters were doing in the past—as if his performances were the evolution of great art because they pushed people. It made me wonder: how much are we still pushing? Sometimes I feel like we’re just reproducing what has already happened. How can we reconfigure ourselves to keep pushing instead of reproducing?

Chris Burden, pessoal

I Miss Home, 2025

Bolo de Fubá, Confessions 

When I realized I wouldn’t be able to return to Brazil for the summer, I cried. I go back every year—it's the season when all of my living grandparents celebrate their birthdays. Bolo de Fubá, a corncake my grandmothers adore, has always reminded me of home. Craving that connection, I tried to bake it here.

This was the first time the recipe actually worked. It took several attempts—there are so many different types of cornmeal that translating the recipe across cultures and ingredients was unexpectedly difficult.

BCG (Bacilo de Calmette e Guérin), 2025

Crawling Fence, Vaccine mark

BCG (Bacilo de Calmette e Guérin) (2025) takes its name from the vaccine commonly administered to children in South America. The vaccine leaves a small, characteristic scar- a subtle marker of one’s origin. For many, it's a visible sign that you were born in South America.

Opinionated (2025)

glazed stoneware, rebar, chains

18" x 8" x 9"

is a ceramic sculpture of a pair of legs wearing ankle cuffs. The idea came to me after observing how, globally, leftist ideologies are increasingly demonized. In many Western countries, we’ve seen a rise in far-right movements—and as the political right shifts further toward fascism, what was once considered the center is now labeled as leftist, and the actual left becomes vilified.

The idea for this project started because I feel a bit disconnected from Brazil, from São Paulo. I’ve been living in the U.S. since I was 17, and even though I keep in touch with my friends, visit often, and stay connected to the culture and politics, I feel like a big part of my personality has been shaped here.

The tiles exist as an extension of myself—my personality, my ideas—and I’m leaving them on the walls in SP as a way to eternalize myself there. That was the spark for this project, but it has since expanded.

I’ve also been thinking about ways to democratize my art because it makes me sick to think that everything I create might just end up as a commodity, appreciated by only a few (if I even “succeed”—what a silly idea of success, so I’m trying to erase that from my mind). Putting art in the streets feels like a way to democratize it. I love walking around and seeing street art—it not only makes art accessible but also adorns the environment, which brings me to my next point.

and that’s where I came across Santiago Sierra’s work—very intense, very controversial. He has this nihilistic mindset: the world is fucked up, but he can’t do anything about it. Said the white European man… whatever. I really like how he exposes social issues in his work, how far people are willing to go for money etc. I just haaaaaate how it ends there.

Anyway, it got me thinking. I’ve been brainstorming ways to incorporate tattooing into my studio practice. I’m also thinking about leaving my mark on people (kind of like my tile idea) and finding ways to democratize my art. Things have been a little slow for me as a tattoo artist lately—partly because I’m focused on other projects, but also because people just don’t want to pay me for my labor, which pisses me off. There are nuances to it, though, I need to explore that.

With all that in mind—especially the lack of prestige around my labor—I posted on Instagram asking who would want a free tattoo in exchange for giving me complete creative freedom over placement, design, and color.

im bad at going to galleries and museums and documenting what i see. as i post this i hate my past self for taking horrible pictures, but at the same time i stand for past mel choices, she was enjoying the moment (and judging the people who were there just for the pictures)

i went to MOMA and i saw Gordon Matta-Clark in person, that was very very fun. Thank you Tom for giving us beautiful yummy readings. it’s very monumental, super interesting to see a building cut out inside… one of the few pieces that survived

Also went to a gallery in manhattan and saw Camille Henrot’s A Number of Things at Hauser & Wirth gallery… very interesting textures and material use, howeverrrrrrrrr very privileged white french lady coded. she’s talking about childhood, i see it, but omg the world is burning to hell!!!! but that’s my personal opinion, i know that… at the same time i also appreciate beautiful things. look at this dog family i saw… Im sorry mrs Henrot, its not personal… i like how the floor was transformed to resemble a child playground

Im cooking ill expand on it... crafts but also relational aesthetics