Flowers for eyes, a horizon for a mouth… a popsicle for a holy relic? Rafael Silveira has long been interested in what he describes as “visual synonymies,” which he likens to “formal correspondences between seemingly unrelated things, moments in which one image unexpectedly recognizes itself in another.” The Brazilian artist’s surreal paintings replace facial features with landforms, flora, and fauna, sometimes hybridizing animals, figures, and other objects.

The works seen here were recently included in the artist’s solo exhibition Popsicledelic Trip at KP Projects Gallery in Los Angeles alongside a show by Silveira’s wife, the artist Flávia Itiberê. A series of vertical pieces with ornate, hand-carved wooden frames resemble the silhouette of popsicles, while figures hold giant versions of the frozen treats in a stylistic nod to religious art during the Renaissance.

a surreal painting of a landscape with a portal-like gate that a woman walks through, surrounded by strange animals and a man in a pink suit with a tree for a head“Exit” (2026), oil painting on canvas, 150 x 100 centimeters

The popsicle may seem like a quirky, even out-of-place reference within the context of these works, but for Silveira, the objects represent the broader idea that everything in the universe is connected. No matter how absurd it may seem at first glance—a man with a tree for a head or ice cream cones floating planet-like in a starry sky—the point is that they all really do exist simultaneously. Silveira juxtaposes objects and organisms in unlikely scenarios to challenge how we perceive the world around us and how even the same shape can have completely different associations.

One compositional form in particular, the tavola centinata, describes the shape of a canvas or relief with a squared base and rounded top. A feature commonly found in Gothic and early Renaissance paintings, it has the same silhouette as a classic popsicle. In a statement, Silveira says:

The connection is at once surprising and inevitable. One belongs to the sacred history of painting; the other to the realm of the ephemeral, the popular, the sweet, the melting. Bringing them together creates a bridge between devotional form and unstable matter, between permanence and disappearance, between the spiritual weight of the altarpiece and the fragile delight of something destined to dissolve.

See more of the artist’s work on Instagram.

a vertical painting in a hand-carved wooden frame shaped like a popsicle with an image of a woman in the center holding a giant popsicle, inspired by religious paintings“We Are On the Same Page” (2026), oil painting on handcrafted wood panel, 25 x 58 centimeters

a portrait-style painting of two figures leaning close to one another, each with flowers and blue sky instead of faces“Wonders of Human Nature” (2026), oil painting on canvas, 80 x 100 centimeters

a vertical painting in a hand-carved wooden frame shaped like a popsicle with an image of a woman in the center holding a giant popsicle, inspired by religious paintings“My God Is the Sun” (2026), oil painting on hand-carved wood panel, 40 x 90 centimeters

a portrait-style painting of a woman wearing a pink shirt, with shoulder-length hair, and instead of a face, a landscape“Early Bird” (2026), oil painting on canvas, 80 x 100 centimeters

a portrait-style painting of a slender figure wearing a vibrant shirt, with shoulder-length purple hair, and instead of a face, a landscape“Cosmic Bioma” (2026), oil painting on canvas, 80 x 100 centimeters

a vertical painting in a hand-carved wooden frame shaped like a popsicle with an image of a woman in the sky, like a deity, overlooking two children with popsicles for heads“The Epiphany” (2026), oil painting on hand-carved wood panel, 50 x 105 centimeters

a vertical painting in a hand-carved wooden frame shaped like a popsicle with an image of a woman in the center holding a giant popsicle, inspired by religious paintings“Multiverse Is My Backyard” (2026), oil painting on hand-carved wood panel, 50 x 105 centimeters

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