Barrio Escalante, San José

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Calas y Anturios, by Carlos Tapia. An overflowing botanical mass asserts itself abruptly against a vibrant turquoise ground.
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Carlos Tapia

Calas y AnturiosSold

Year
2007
Technique
Acrylic/Canvas
Dimensions
127 × 107 cm
Status
Sold
Palette
crimson, turquoise, orange ochre, light lavender, cadmium yellow
Brushwork
Forceful black delineation with impasto brushstrokes and vibrant chromatic modulations within closed planes.

Curatorial analysis

An overflowing botanical mass asserts itself abruptly against a vibrant turquoise ground. The arrangement seeks neither the lightness of a traditional bouquet nor the placid equilibrium of classic still life; it is a dense, almost architectural plant eruption where the spathes of red anthuriums and white calla lilies vie for dominance within a suffocating, sensual foreground.

The visual structure relies on forceful black contour lines that delimit each shape, recalling stained glass or expressionist woodcuts. Within these enclosed boundaries, crimson reds and pale violet-tinted whites take on a fleshy consistency. At the center of each blossom, the spadix rises as a straight stroke of pure yellow, introducing a cadence of luminous punctures that guide the gaze across the foliage and disrupt the heaviness of the petals.

In the lower register, the container abandons all utilitarian definition to become a living organism. Sinuous bands of ochre, vermilion, and deep wine twist in a pattern of magma or tangled roots that supports the vertical, green-and-white-striped stems. This agitated base seems to propel the entire cluster upward with indisputable telluric force.

The blue background, worked with short and rhythmic brushstrokes, does not function as mere distant atmosphere but as a chromatic wall pressing the floral motif forward. The scale of over a meter in height magnifies this sense of physical proximity, transforming an interior motif into a monumental, unbridled celebration of tropical fertility.

Calas y Anturios

More works by Carlos Tapia

153 works

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