"Sugar Scream"

“Sugar Scream” is a fusion of Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Eiichiro Oda’s Sugar from One Piece.

In this acrylic painting, Sugar — the girl who turns everyone into toys — is caught in her own moment of shock. Her eyes wide, her mouth frozen in the iconic scream, she is no longer the one who causes fear, but the one who feels it. The swirling, nightmarish background of Munch’s original work is reimagined in candy colors — melting pinks, toxic greens, and sugary pastels — to reflect her devil fruit power and childlike yet terrifying world.

The painting plays on irony: Sugar, who makes others scream and be forgotten, is now the one screaming to be remembered. It captures that exact panel in One Piece where her composure breaks — when she is shocked and loses control.

Through anime expression and classical composition, Mesa Jr. explores how even the most powerful can be vulnerable, and how sweetness can turn into horror in a single second.

It’s not just a scream. It’s Sugar’s scream.

exibited on BALAI MARIA INTRAMUROS MANILA 2024