Upo Tayo is a body of oil paintings on table linens. The pieces were made as formal exercise s in painting: each one is a record of experimentation with color, line, composition, and paint application. The work range s in size and scale, but both subject matter and substrate unite all the work. A side from formal concerns, the paintings use food as a subject. These are foods from my upbringing in the Philippines. Food is arguably one of the most telling parts of any person’s life: wrapped up in the food we eat is our identity, culture, history, socioeconomic class, relationship to nature, and more. Using food as subject opened a door to create paintings that are simultaneously intensely personal and public. They are meant to be shared. They are meant to be fun. And hopefully, they are delicious.