Barrio Escalante, San José

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Diálogo, by José Luis López Escarré. A single continuous profile resolves the encounter between two presences.
  • Diálogo, by José Luis López Escarré. A single continuous profile resolves the encounter between two presences.
  • Diálogo, by José Luis López Escarré, view 2

José Luis López Escarré

DiálogoInquire about availability

Year
1983
Technique
Mixed Media
Dimensions
48 × 65 cm
Status
Inquire about availability
Palette
ash purple, ink black, ivory white, grayish lavender
Brushwork
Even purplish ink washes combined with quick dry-brush strokes and fine calligraphic ink lines.

Curatorial analysis

A single continuous profile resolves the encounter between two presences. In this plane where ground and figure constantly exchange roles, the boundary defining the nose, lips, and chin belongs exclusively to neither face: it is a shared edge, an almost imperceptible line of contact that renders the title of the work tangible.

To the left, a dense mass of muted violet tone builds a face in shadow, solid and silent, pierced by a fixed, melancholic frontal gaze. In direct mirror, the opposing face emerges from the luminous void of the support, delineated merely by synthetic strokes of black ink. An interplay here evokes the visual device of Rubin's vase, yet stripped of mathematical rigidity and steered toward a psychological intimacy charged with lyrical tension.

The rhythm of the whole accelerates violently at the top. While the lower area rests upon an enveloping, quiet plane, the hair erupts into horizontal dry-brush strokes, swift, where black ink splinters into fibers and striations sweeping the space toward the right. This gestural calligraphy stands in sharp contrast to the delicate precision of the eyes, rendered with a graphic refinement akin to Eastern ink painting, where eyelashes and pupils concentrate an almost theatrical focus.

The chromatic economy, restricted to a strict dialogue between carbon black, grayish violet, and the warmth of cream paper, underlines the duality between the spoken and the unsaid. Rather than illustrating a verbal exchange, the surface captures that threshold where physical distance dissolves and two identities ultimately come to explain themselves solely through proximity to one another.

Diálogo

More works by José Luis López Escarré

2 works

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