Barrio Escalante, San José

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Este es Nuestro Tiempo, by Marijose Terán. The immediate impact lies in the directness of that gaze: luminous brown eyes that hold contact with quiet resolve, modeled through a rigorous drawing that merges seamlessly with the surface.
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Marijose Terán

Este es Nuestro Tiempo

Year
2020
Technique
Mixed Media
Dimensions
62 × 52 cm
Status
Available
Palette
burnt ochre, bone white, raw umber, terracotta, ash gray
Brushwork
Figurative charcoal drawing with glazes over a layered collage of newspaper, stenciling, and acrylic.

Curatorial analysis

The immediate impact lies in the directness of that gaze: luminous brown eyes that hold contact with quiet resolve, modeled through a rigorous drawing that merges seamlessly with the surface. The three-quarter face does not float over a neutral ground; it is built out of a palimpsest where printed paper pulp, charcoal, and sepia washes coexist within the same skin.

Compositionally, the work thrives on tensions between typographical graphics and the carnality of the figure. On the left, a botanical wallpaper pattern evokes an intimate domestic sphere, while columns of newsprint introduce the contingency of the outside world. Legible fragments such as "Este es nuestro tiempo" or the lower-right aphorism urging against fear cease to function as passive ground, acting instead as strata of collective memory. The density of the text aligns with the shadowed contours of the cheek and temple, so that the physiognomy feels literally woven from language.

The material handling challenges the stillness of traditional portraiture. Torn sections, chalky impastos, and rust-toned stains evoke a weathered wall eroded by time, contrasting the subject's youth with the artificial antiquity of the substrate. Light does not strike from an external spotlight; it emanates from the scumbled whites across the forehead and cheekbone, lending a sober dignity to her expression. In this assemblage of ephemeral headlines and enduring draftsmanship, the figure surfaces not as a passive bystander to her era, but as a conscious witness, firmly anchored against the uncertainties of the present.

Este es Nuestro Tiempo

More works by Marijose Terán

60 works

Available works

View all 60 works by Marijose Terán

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