Barrio Escalante, San José

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Autoestima II, by Carlos Tapia. A slender, hieratic white cat rules over the center of a visual stampede.
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Carlos Tapia

Autoestima IISold

Year
2020
Technique
Acrylic/Canvas
Dimensions
90 × 110 cm
Status
Sold
Palette
chrome yellow, vermilion red, greyish mauve, mint green, pure white, black
Brushwork
Dense and uniform planes of opaque acrylic delimited by fluid black contour lines.

Curatorial analysis

A slender, hieratic white cat rules over the center of a visual stampede. Faced with the din of volutes, checkerboards, and arabesques that shape the armchair, the animal does not compete: it asserts itself through subtraction. Its flat whiteness, contained by a continuous and unflinching black contour, serves as the only visual resting point across a surface where not a single square centimeter yields its vibrancy.

The furniture unfolds with the majesty of a baroque throne or the outspread wings of a fantastic insect. Tapia structures the space through a rhythm that is simultaneously concentric and expansive: rays of solar yellow and violet stripes emanate from behind the backrest, projecting the scene forward with the intensity of a backlit stained-glass window. Across the crest and armrests, bold black lines carve spirals of crimson, mauve, mint green, and orange, colliding on the seat cushion with floral patterns that evoke both folk textile design and graphic psychedelia.

The acrylic paint settles in smooth, homogeneous fields, deliberately eschewing traditional chiaroscuro. Light does not emanate from an external source, but rather from the high-voltage friction between adjacent pigments, where saturated warm tones clash with deep purples and blues to create an electric glow. Along the lower edge, a sinuous ochre ribbon undulates like a root or a decorative serpent, cordoning off the foreground and establishing the ritual distance demanded by the subject.

Under the title Autoestima II, the scene transcends the domestic anecdote of a pet perched upon a seat. The cat's modest scale against the monumental exuberance of its surroundings does not diminish it; on the contrary, its unflinching gaze and quiet composure project absolute sovereignty. The setting roars with color, yet it is the silent calm of the cat that anchors the entire architecture of the canvas.

Autoestima II

More works by Carlos Tapia

153 works

Available works

View all 153 works by Carlos Tapia
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