Antonio Palomo’s New Artist Space and Lounge in Orange, California
A first look inside the artist space and lounge Antonio Palomo is building in Orange, before it opens.
Written by Gregory Ferraro for GF Creative House BlogPhotographed by Gregory Ferraro
Local artist Antonio Palomo invited me into his new artistic space in Orange before it opens, showing the halls and rooms where he has been completing his work and curating the work of others, preparing for the launch of a place meant to share, appreciate and showcase local artistic creations over a cup of horchata.
Inside the space
Antonio Palomo’s artist space in Orange, and Diana Berg’s installation at Grand Central Art Center.
I first met Palomo last year at Grand Central Art Center while covering Diana Berg, a conceptual artist and activist displaced from Donetsk and Mariupol during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She arrived at Grand Central through the ArtsLink International Fellowship, and her installation dealt with war, memory, survival and her history.
Palomo contributed a piece to the installation called, “The Treasure Box,” a small sandbox filled with childhood toys mixed with debris and bullets. The work draws directly from his own early memories of fleeing El Salvador at eight years old, when play and danger existed uncomfortably close to each other. He and Diana built the piece together to show how a child’s world absorbs the trauma of war, where innocence and threat sit side by side and slowly reshape what “normal” is.
Palomo talked about how his relationship with art began early and stayed with him even after he stepped away from it.
“In high school, I loved art, but I gave it up because I didn’t feel that it was a medium where I could make a living, especially in the 80s and 90s,”
Inside the space, he showed a collection of paintings he found in the trash created by a woman who lived to be 100 years old. He brought them in because he didn’t want her work to disappear. Palomo said he and Michelle Dragon, a Gallery Associate at Grand Central Art Center, discussed how they hoped the rescued pieces could support students through a scholarship.
Palomo works across sculptures, paintings, drawings and digital pieces, shifting between different styles depending on the idea. He is currently creating a suspended installation by placing his sandbox piece beneath, “VISK,” the work Berg originally built from three crystal champagne glasses filled with sand, soil and water tied to the places she was displaced from. His piece sits directly under the vessels, forming a single presentation that connects his objects of childhood memory with the material history inside her installation.
He also walked through a piece called, “Checking my Status,” based on a moment with his daughter. Through the piece he hopes to highlight how easily people slip out of the present. He described how she was on her phone during a conversation, and later he caught himself doing the same thing at the beach.
“I found myself on the phone instead of enjoying the day. So I combined both images of the beach and her, and it reflects how many of us miss things happening around us because we’re on the phone,”
As the new artist’s space and lounge in Orange continues to take shape, Palomo has also been preparing work that will extend beyond its walls. One of the most anticipated pieces is a collage destined for Grand Central, a work he’s been building alongside the development of the space itself. The collage is still in progress, but its structure is already emerging through layered materials and the same evolving ideas he’s been shaping in the studio.
He showed another work designed for two viewers to look through from opposite sides, each seeing a different symbolic image. The piece is rooted in the idea that it comes from the heart, and that love can be seen differently depending on where someone stands. As people move to either side, what they see changes, but the theme of love stays at the center. The work invites two perspectives at once, holding the idea that the same love can look different to each person.
He also showed pieces tied to music, memory and the long nights he spent working through difficult periods through creating. He talked about how certain artists he listened to during hard times inspired him, and how their work pushed him to make pieces of his own in response. Those influences shaped what he was creating then, and helped him stay focused and keep working on his art.
Throughout the visit, Palomo spoke about how this space is part of a dream he carried since childhood, a place where art could be made, shared and lived with others. He talked about wanting to offer the kind of creative environment he wished he had growing up, one where anyone could walk in, feel supported and find room to explore what they can make. For him, the goal is to keep it open and accessible, giving the community a chance to slow down, create and feel connected to something larger than themselves.
Palomo’s new collage work will be on view at @grandcentralart starting June 6 for guests to see and experience.
The story on Instagram
Antonio Palomo’s upcoming artist space and lounge in Orange, California is already taking shape with character, creativity and a clear sense of community-driven direction. Seeing the work in progress and hearing the meaning behind each piece added so much to the visit.
Palomo’s new collage work will be on view at @grandcentralart starting June 6 for guests to see and experience.
More updates are on the way as the artist space and exhibit continues to come together, so stay tuned for what’s next!
