Barrio Escalante, San José

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El Secreto, by Alma Fernández Tercero. An unusual weight crowns the figure's head: a porous, ochre mass with torn edges, evoking dry autumn foliage, weathered bark, or handmade paper.

Alma Fernández Tercero

El SecretoInquire about availability

Year
2017
Technique
Mixed Media on Paper
Dimensions
28 × 30 cm
Status
Inquire about availability
Palette
dark brown, burnt sienna, light ochre, bluish gray, off-white
Brushwork
Mixed-media surface that integrates graphite drawing, scrapings, earthy glazes, and a textured element with an organic edge resembling handmade paper or dry foliage.

Curatorial analysis

An unusual weight crowns the figure's head: a porous, ochre mass with torn edges, evoking dry autumn foliage, weathered bark, or handmade paper. This airy disproportion immediately establishes the tone of the scene. The young girl, dressed in a sober tunic of ashen folds, directs her downward gaze toward her left hand, where a miniature winged creature seems to whisper or wait in silence.

The visual space operates through an elliptical radiance, a diffuse halo that isolates both characters from the dark, earthy surrounding background. This dense ring of shadow compresses the intimacy of the encounter, transforming the paper into a secular reliquary of sorts. The treatment of the figure contrasts the linear precision of the drawing, evident in the melancholic composure of the face and the gentle fall of the fingers, with areas where white pigment and graphite thin out or wear down against the grain of the support.

The enigma's tension lies in scale. The tiny cherub, rendered with echoes of classical imagery, perches with the lightness of an insect on the skin. There is no trace of shock in the girl; her demeanor is one of contemplation and complicity, as though the apparition belonged naturally to her interior world. The tactile, plant-like matter crowning her brow suggests a physical extension of thought, a condensation of memories or dreams overflowing the mind.

Alma Fernández Tercero constructs here a fable about the unseen, where dialogue demands no sound. By anchoring the scene within a luminous recess embraced by shadow, the viewer is placed in the role of an indiscreet witness to a private pact, suspended in a fragile stillness that any sudden gesture would shatter.

El Secreto

More works by Alma Fernández Tercero

30 works

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View all 30 works by Alma Fernández Tercero

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