Rafael Silveira's 'Popsicledelic Trip' at KP Projects Gallery Explores Visual Synonymies

Key facts

• Rafael Silveira's solo exhibition Popsicledelic Trip was held at KP Projects Gallery in Los Angeles.
• The show featured surreal paintings that replace facial features with landforms, flora, and fauna.
• Silveira describes his concept as "visual synonymies," or formal correspondences between seemingly unrelated things.
• The exhibition ran alongside a show by Silveira's wife, artist Flávia Itiberê.
• Vertical works with hand-carved wooden frames mimic popsicle silhouettes, referencing Renaissance religious art.
• The popsicle shape corresponds to the tavola centinata, a form common in Gothic and early Renaissance paintings.
• Silveira stated that the connection bridges devotional form and unstable matter, permanence and disappearance.
• The works include "Exit" (2026), "We Are On the Same Page" (2026), "Wonders of Human Nature" (2026), "My God Is the Sun" (2026), "Early Bird" (2026), "Cosmic Bioma" (2026), "The Epiphany" (2026), and "Multiverse Is My Backyard" (2026).