Barrio Escalante, San José

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La Celista, by Rafael Fernández. Silence seems to govern the scene before the string resonates.
1 photo · 1 video

Rafael Fernández

La Celista

Technique
Screen Print
Dimensions
29 × 24 cm
Status
Available
Palette
ashy sky blue, burnt ochre, mahogany, charcoal black, pearl white
Brushwork
Silkscreen planes of dense inks combined with smooth chromatic gradations and sharp contours

Curatorial analysis

Silence seems to govern the scene before the string resonates. A female figure, viewed in strict profile, holds the cello with a hieratic serenity, almost suspended in a time removed from any theatrical haste. The white headdress framing her head and the austere drape of her pale blue garment evoke a monastic or Flemish iconography, stripped of anecdotal detail to focus attention entirely on the intimate bond between body and instrument.

This dialogue rests upon a precise diagonal formed by the cello's neck and the performer's forearm, dividing the space into two contrasting atmospheres. To the left, a warm glow of ochres and golds illuminates the reddish wood of the soundbox, summoning an almost tactile warmth, as if sound itself materialized as light. To the right, by contrast, the verticality of a neutral, cool shadow contains the silhouette, granting it a robust and secluded volume. The stylization of the face, with clean features and an absorbed gaze, reinforces an enigmatic character where the figure does not aim to portray a specific individual, but rather the embodiment of musical absorption itself.

The silkscreen medium reveals itself with remarkable richness in the rendering of glazes and tonal transitions. Rather than settling for flat color fields, the layering of inks produces a subtle play of light upon the gown that directly dialogues with the textured vibration of the background. The cello's wood, deep and dense in its mahogany tone, visually anchors the scene, functioning as the gravitational core of an image that is intimate in scale yet undeniably powerful in graphic force.

La Celista

More works by Rafael Fernández

56 works

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View all 56 works by Rafael Fernández

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