Allison Canafe

“What is your favorite artwork?”

Curatorial Rationale

For this body of work, I intend to convey the overarching theme of the concept of time, and the deep connections time has to multiple aspects of our world. Initially, I planned to convey the personal thoughts I have about the concept of time, where I would incorporate moments of my life where time was extremely prominent during specific events. I quickly realized that in order to connect to the audience on a personal level, I had to generalize the intent of the pieces to make them more impactful.. By presenting this body of work, I hope to achieve a connection to the audience by visualizing the common feelings and experiences where time was a prevalent factor. I want my work to represent a variety of personal and general statements on the effects of time on humanity and nature. My vision for presenting this body of work is to cluster the effects of time on humanity in the center, while the effects of time on nature are clustered on the sides of the exhibition.

My pieces in this body of work include a wide variety of mediums, where specific mediums connect to the message of the artwork. Furthermore, time is used as a channel to commentate on the harm or the benefit of certain subjects. In this body of work, I included various 2D mediums such as acrylic paint, spray paint, watercolor, and charcoal on canvas or their respective sheet material. I also used multiple 3D and mixed mediums, such as clay with glass shards, a water installation, and wood carvings on a branch. For example, my water installation “Dissolved” was painted with watercolor as water slowly destroyed the piece with a purpose to highlight the power of time. The physical representation of how time can amplify something seemingly harmless, such as water, is manifested through the mediums used. The concept of time also amplifies different themes. In “Everlasting Love,” love is highlighted to last even after death, which many consider the end of time for an individual. With the presence of gravesites connected with vines and hearts engraved on the tombstones, this piece highlights how love continues eternally. In other works, such as “Lifetime of Our Trees,” global warming is highlighted with the formatting of my piece acting as a timeline. The trees start off as luscious and full of leaves, but then are slowly destroyed by the increasing temperatures of the Earth. This piece commentates on the state of our slowly deteriorating planet, where the use of a timeline amplifies the effect of this commentary. Overall, the concept of time has been incorporated into my works with various 2D, 3D, and mixed mediums, and as a stepping stone to enhance the commentary that works in accord with them.

I arranged my pieces to cohesively connect the themes to one another, and grouped similar themes together. On the pedestals, I have my 3D artworks, where the natural-based works surround the humanity-based work. Directly above the middle piece, my self portrait is sandwiched in between works that are focused on themes of a positive and negative message using time. The piece above my self portrait focuses on the detrimental state that humanity sacrifices to gain even just a false promise of more time. The piece under my self-portrait focuses on how love between humans can surpass even the end of time. My self portrait is centered in the middle because the concept of time is very personal to me, and I interpret the world with a time-centered perspective, being “trapped” in pieces that symbolize time. The pieces on the right and left finish my body of work, once again boxing in my self-portrait, while also having similar inspirations, yet differing details and complexities within the artworks. I intend for the audience to recognize a pattern and find a balance between my entire body of work as well as connecting to common experiences and feelings on the concept of time. 


Allison’s Art Work

  • Drowning for...

    Medium used

    Watercolor on paper

    Size of original (cm)

    45cm x 30cm

    My inspiration for this artwork was on Salvador Dalí’s Persistence of Memory. I was inspired by the melting clocks and the surrealist aspect of them, so I decided to incorporate that as one of the main subjects in my piece. I wanted to portray how the feeling of time is unstable and unreliable at times as well as how many people dangerously chase after this concept with little regard to their own health.

  • Everlasting Love

    Medium used

    Spray paint on canvas

    Size of original (cm)

    30.48 cm x 40.64 cm

    I was inspired by Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ Untitled (Perfect Lovers), which features an installation of two clocks hanging on a wall progressing in sync. I wanted to incorporate the theme of love being even stronger than the end of time, and highlight the connection between lovers, like Gonzalez-Torres’ art piece. Instead of two clocks to represent souls, I used an engraved heart on the tombstone. I showed synchronized souls by the mirrored stencil spray painting and the interlocking vines.

  • Revolt Against Time

    Medium used

    Acrylic paint on canvas

    Size of original (cm)

    30.48 cm x 40.64 cm

    I wanted to encapsulate the rejection and fight against the inevitability of time passing, inspired by the photo called PATTI SMITH (FUCK THE CLOCK). My painting consists of the main subject as Smith and similar clothes to the model, and also alluding to the character Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger with the red hat and the rye weeds. The child represents innocence and preservation of childhood as it is being protected by the seemingly delinquent subject.

  • Lifetime of our Trees

    Medium used

    Wood carvings on dead palm tree branch

    Size of original (cm)

    26cm x 5cm x 13cm

    My inspiration for this art piece was Nele Azevedo’s “Melting Men”. Like his work, my sculpture is an environmental commentary on global warming. I wanted to highlight the state of the Earth’s trees from the past where we did not have the ability to heavily pollute the environment compared to many trees in the present. The trees get smaller and the leaves are less frequent, eventually becoming nothing but charred wood or a stump, creating something like a timeline.

  • Dissolved

    Medium used

    Water installation of watercolor on watercolor paper, wooden floater frame, sprinkler pipes, sprinkler fittings, watering dripper, fountain pump, water, container to hold water

    Size of original (cm)

    23cm x 4.9cm x 30.2cm

    This piece was inspired by Gustav Metzger’s “First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art,” especially how he used hydrochloric acid to destroy a nylon sheet. Instead of hydrochloric acid on a nylon sheet, I used water on watercolor paper to achieve the same effect. This piece highlights the power of time, where a slow stream of water can eventually destroy tough rocks, and romanticizes destruction, where the power of time can beautify something by destroying it.

  • Slipping through my Hands

    Medium used

    Water based clay, glaze, kinetic sand, and shards of glass

    Size of original (cm)

    17.78 cm x 11 cm in diameter

    This is inspired by a graphite pencil drawing, where hands are clasped together on top of a glass hourglass. For this piece, I intended to portray the desperate human attempt to try to stop the inevitable passing of time. As humans, we are obsessed with time, trying to preserve our present and our past as much as possible. However, this is an unrealistic struggle of attempting to achieve something unattainable, focusing on the futile attempt to preserve time.

  • Time is Money

    Medium used

    Acrylic paint on canvas

    Size of original (cm)

    27.94 cm x 35.56 cm

    This art piece was inspired by the saying, “time is money” by Benjamin Franklin. I wanted to comment on how society treats the concept of time and money as an equal trade offer. The concept of time is perishable and once it is spent, it will never be regained, unlike money, which you can build up wealth and spend it more freely. This piece attempts to convey how something physically intangible is devalued because it is given a monetary value.

  • Present tense

    Medium used

    Charcoal on charcoal paper

    Size of original (cm)

    22.9cm x 30.5cm

    I was inspired by Whitfield Lovell’s Time III, because of the clever idea of the self-portrait reflection in the glass of the clock. I wanted to encapsulate the same concept, but exhibit a theme that was more personal. I wanted this piece to capture the theme of feeling controlled by time limits and my obsession with being deeply affected by time. By including myself in the reflection of the clock, I can only see myself deeply connected with time, and others see how intertwined I am with it.