ALTERNATE SIDES ART PROJECT
ALTERNATE SIDES
2024 – Present
As children, we experience the world through curiosity before we experience it through recognition. We observe with wonder, taking in color, texture, shape, and sensation without needing to immediately identify what we are seeing. As we grow older, we learn to name things, and once something has a name, we often stop truly observing it. Alternate Sides is an attempt to interrupt that habit.
Every work begins with sustained observation. Whether I am painting a portrait, studying the weathered surface of reclaimed wood, or magnifying the skin of a piece of fruit, I spend hours looking until familiar subjects begin to reveal details that ordinary attention overlooks. That process becomes a form of mindfulness. The finished work asks viewers to enter that same state of attention—to spend more time with an image than a passing glance usually allows.
I paint portraits on modular blocks of reclaimed wood and then separate the image into individual panels. Rearranged and interrupted by space, a face can no longer be consumed instantly. A cheek becomes an abstract field of color. A nose shifts away from its expected place. An eye exists both as a portrait and as a painting in its own right. Rather than simply recognizing a face, viewers must move through the work, reconstructing relationships between its parts. The goal is not to create confusion, but to slow perception long enough for observation to become experience.
The spaces between the blocks are as important as the painted surfaces themselves. They are not empty gaps but active intervals that shape rhythm, balance, and meaning. Every movement of a single block changes the relationships around it, altering how the entire composition is understood. The work exists not only within the painted panels but also in the conversation between them.
Who I paint matters. Many are neighbors whose lives quietly sustain their communities: a woman who sells food outside the school where I teach, a man who maintains neighborhood rain gardens, librarians, food cart workers, and local business owners. Others are members of my own family—my mother, my father, grandparents, and ancestors whose stories continue to shape my understanding of identity. Many are immigrants, or descendants of immigrants, and my own family’s journey is inseparable from theirs. These are people whose lives reward closer attention, not because they are extraordinary, but because ordinary attention rarely lingers long enough to discover what is already there.
The reclaimed wood carries the same idea. Once used for structural purposes and discarded, it becomes the foundation for portraits of people whose contributions often go unnoticed despite supporting the communities around them. The material itself becomes a reminder that value is often hidden beneath what has been overlooked.
The project currently explores three different kinds of blocks, each using observation in a different way. Loaded blocks depict objects that already carry cultural meaning—a storefront sign, a flag, a bottle, or another recognizable form. Anatomical blocks are fragments of the human figure, where viewers instinctively search for the whole even as the work resists immediate resolution. Neutral blocks magnify texture, material, or surface until recognition falls away and close observation becomes the only path toward understanding. Although each type functions differently, they all share the same intention: to encourage slower looking and deeper engagement.
Ultimately, Alternate Sides is not about fragmented portraits. It is about restoring the act of observation. The modular structure slows the eye, allowing curiosity to replace recognition and mindfulness to replace habit. By asking viewers to remain with an image longer than contemporary life typically encourages, the work creates space for memory, empathy, and discovery to emerge.
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INTENDED DIRECTION
The panels are magnet-mounted and fully reconfigurable, allowing every installation to become one of many possible arrangements. My long-term vision is to create an interactive exhibition in which visitors physically rearrange the work, becoming collaborators in the process of observation and meaning-making. Each new configuration would generate a unique visual conversation, documented through photography, video, and writing.
The challenge is not conceptual but practical: designing a display system that allows meaningful public interaction while protecting the work. Solving that problem remains one of the project’s next steps.
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MAMÁ
SELF
TORRES
