Kapono Asuncion
Sweet nothings from a meditating body
2023
8.3" x 11.7"
Ipad acrylic, pastel, ink
Describe your work, what is it that you do?
"On Instagram, I describe my work as “brown boy makin’ some gay alien art.” In person, I usually elaborate a bit, describing my work as silly, full of nonsense, driven by what has become a joyful compulsion to create, and, in ways only explicit to me, very gay, very trans, very brown, very Indigenous, very ADHD, very autistic. All in all, very Pono. I love to worldbuild. I love to create silly looking creatures and give them absurd names like Cheese Baby and Speckleheen. I love to experiment with different mediums and processes at the same time. I’m currently on a chaotic rotation between a few huge acrylic paintings on salvaged wooden boards and canvas, organizing archives of my work, too many iPad paintings to count, small experimental watercolor paintings, ink/watercolor/colored pencil illustrations, improvised songs using Garageband, a few animations, a poetry chapbook, a children’s book, “knowledge tablets” filled with invented calculus and language, & more. It’s a toss up every day what I’ll end up working on."
Parker smoking a joint & we sit in empty bleachers, spring 2022 (T4T best friendships r sacred)
2022
15.69" x 18.6"
Ipad Painting
"I am currently exploring the idea of believing that I am both accessing and creating ancestral knowledge, alongside the idea that I am a cultural orphan—a brown kid who grew up surrounded by whiteness, whose ancestors and relatives and homes are too far away in both time and space to be able to transmit any knowledge to me."
What brings you joy as an artist?
"Making stuff! Making lots and lots and lots and lots of stuff, and sharing it with people. Sharing my love of art and creativity with my 2 and 5 year-old nieces, who are becoming prolific makers themselves! I also love learning about zoology, microbiology, astrophysics, evolutionary biology, video games, ancient history, art history, theories about aliens, and so much more—I love collecting information and ephemera and context and history. I see my self-directed learning as seed gathering and sowing, knowing anything could come up when I inevitably sit down to make my perpetually unplanned and improvised stuff. I used to want to go to art school, but I’ve realized that being self-taught is itself a precious source of joy and pride that I don’t really ever want to compromise."
Restdance a place for Teigh
2022
13.75" wide x 5665" tall
Ipad Painting
"I find a lot of joy in fashioning what I’ve been thinking of as my “self-taught MFA”-- a cobbled together, non-linear, hectic and beautiful collection of art books from the public library, art Youtube, & Instagram."
What resources would you like to see that are not currently available?
"I want funding for trans artist collectives, grants for trans artists without criteria that decides whether or not artists of marginalized identities are doing work that white-led funding entities decide is valid community-centered work. I want to know that when I apply for an opportunity for so-called “diverse” artists that my work won’t be pigeon-holed and flattened. I would love a resource for just learning about the resources that are available to me. I am currently a Mirrors and Windows fellow at the Loft Literary Center, which is a fellowship for children’s literature writers who are BIPOC, and I want to see the equivalent for trans visual artists. I want career fairs & & free studio space for artists of marginalized identities."
Syngnathidae analogue: underwater catalogue no. 1 entry 1
2022
10" x 10"
Ink drawing, Ipad painting
"I really, really believe in the power of trans artists finding each other, and at the same time, I wish the work wasn’t all on us to find each other and relevant resources in the proverbial haystack of the Hennepin County arts landscape."
What are you working on in 2023?
"Continuing to incorporate mindfulness and trauma-informed practices into my art practice. Writing and illustrating a speculative, sci-fi, fantasy YA experimental graphic novel. My ever-growing piles of paintings and sketches and drawings. Exploring watercolor. Delving into my ancestral heritage. Finding other trans artists to put together a DIY exhibition and eventually, hopefully, creating a trans and queer, neurodivergent artist’s collective. Archiving everything I’ve made from age 6 and on. My “field notes” collection of invented diagrams, blueprints, flora, and fauna that I hope to eventually consolidate into an exhibition and art book. And so many more ideas that I know will pop up day by day!"
A nonbinary cosmonaut's dream astrophysics instrument
2022
9" x 13"
Ipad ink drawing & painting