Barrio Escalante, San José

Visits by appointment only

Intimidad, by Guillermo Conte. A spectral presence emerges from a dense, almost mineral background oscillating between earthy brown and oxidized bronze.

Guillermo Conte

Intimidad

Year
1990
Technique
Screen Print
Dimensions
100 × 70 cm
Status
Available
Palette
greenish brown, aged bronze, pearl gray, smoke white, brown umber
Brushwork
Translucent silkscreen glazes layered over a mottled tactile background and linear calligraphy.

Curatorial analysis

A spectral presence emerges from a dense, almost mineral background oscillating between earthy brown and oxidized bronze. The vase and flowers possess neither flesh nor opaque volume; they reveal themselves like an X-ray or a trace of light captured on the surface. Their contours, suspended in a scale of pearlescent grays and transparencies, allow the granular texture of the rear plane to show through, conferring upon the amaryllis petals a fragility akin to lace or a botanical imprint fossilized on paper.

The scene's balance rests upon a serene vertical axis traversed by subtle organic tensions. From the vessel's narrow neck, stems rise straight, yet the corollas disrupt that discipline: one flower opens toward the left displaying a meticulous pattern on its epidermis, while another droops heavily to the right, bowed by its own gravity. This interplay of weights and directions grants the whole a tranquil rhythm, arrested at an intermediate moment between bloom and wilting. The roundness of the vase, crossed by fine horizontal striations, anchors the composition in the lower half without ever touching a visible floor.

In the lower section, two lines of an undecipherable cursive script traverse the body of the vase and the surrounding space. This asemic handwriting functions as a graphic whisper, an intimate notation that eludes verbal reading to become pure visual cadence. Against the mottled ground, where screenprinting ink simulates pictorial glazes and tactile roughness, the text and plant forms operate within the same register: shadows of a memory that refuses to dissolve completely. An absolute silence reigns here, transforming the classic domestic still life into a space of inner contemplation.

Intimidad

More works by Guillermo Conte

32 works

Available works

View all 32 works by Guillermo Conte

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