Carlos Tapia
Ciudad
- Year
- 2022
- Technique
- Acrylic/Canvas
- Dimensions
- 120 × 120 cm
- Status
- Available
Curatorial analysis
Curatorial analysis
A colossal crimson arc cuts across the lower half of the canvas, functioning simultaneously as a viaduct, a wall, and an artificial horizon. From its curved back, pillars striped in violet and pale yellow emerge, vertical structures that anchor the composition's visual weight before the gaze ascends toward a city that defies any constructive logic. Tapia establishes here a space where architecture behaves as a living, feverish, and perpetually mutating organism.
Above this foundation, the city unfolds into a procession of spires, neoclassical domes, anthropomorphic totems, and geometric towers competing for airspace. A solitary eye keeps watch from a conical facade; a winged fish-like creature swims above a fiery sun; sinuous stems crowned with vegetation coexist with suspended polyhedra and polka-dot patterns. In contrast to the stillness and containment of the lower arc, the upper zone erupts in a rhythmic ascending movement, driven by vertical tensions seeking to pierce the cerulean blue of the sky.
The pictorial language relies on crisp demarcation, evoking graphic art or stained glass, where firm, dark contours contain fields of flat, pristine acrylic. The paint is applied with homogeneous precision, foregoing chiaroscuro to entrust three-dimensionality solely to the juxtaposition of complementary values: saturated red against limpid cyan, deep purple against vibrant yellow. This tonal purity suppresses atmospheric depth and thrusts each element into the foreground with overwhelming immediacy.
Rather than a topographical record, this landscape proposes an interior metropolis, a map where playful fantasy, heritage memory, and the electric energy of modernity converge. The large-format square scale accentuates the immersive effect of this territory, enshrining an urban vision that shuns functional grayness to celebrate itself in the excess of color.
More works by Carlos Tapia
153 works
Available works
- Piscina en el PenthhouseCarlos Tapia · 2015
- Sagrada FamiliaCarlos Tapia · 2019
- Escalera al CieloCarlos Tapia · 2019
- El ojo del HuracánCarlos Tapia · 2010
- Celaje UrbanoCarlos Tapia · 2009
- DowntownCarlos Tapia · 2010
- Catedral SumergidaCarlos Tapia · 2010
- Gravedad CeroCarlos Tapia · 2011
- El CircoCarlos Tapia · 2022
- Noche y DíaCarlos Tapia · 2019
- Las Luces de Nueva YorkCarlos Tapia · 2015
- Invasión a la Isla PopCarlos Tapia · 2010
Similar works
By subject, palette and style
