Barrio Escalante, San José

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La Chica, by Leda Astorga. Round volume claims the horizontal plane without asking for permission.
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Leda Astorga

La ChicaSold

Year
2016
Technique
Polychrome Marble Resin
Dimensions
24 × 52 × 19 cm
Status
Sold
Palette
burnt sienna, forest green, chalk white, terracotta, flesh ochre
Brushwork
Modeling of a porous surface with nuanced polychrome and graphic details applied over the texture

Curatorial analysis

Round volume claims the horizontal plane without asking for permission. Reclining on her side, the figure supports her own weight in a display of generous curves that immediately break away from any pretense of academic slender elegance, affirming the firmness of the flesh as a territory of delight and bodily enjoyment. Her gaze, frontal and slightly mischievous, engages the viewer with disarming composure: there is neither modesty nor timidity in that pleased expression that subverts the classical canon of the reclining nude.

The polychrome marble dust delivers a tactile, dense, and porous materiality, where color operates not as a superficial finish but as living, textured skin. Ochre gradations, sienna tones, and toasted shadows frankly model the folds of the torso, thighs, and hips, accentuating the physical truth of each mass. Against the warm glow of the body, the compact mass of hair, loaded with dark greens and deep grooves, acts as a decisive visual counterweight that anchors the composition toward the left end.

Small graphic and affectionate contrasts soften this physical monumentality with unexpected domestic tenderness. The tiny white flowers stamped on her shoulder and calf engage in dialogue with both the minimal lingerie and the small cat curled up between the figure's arms. That animal presence, synthesized into a soft, light shape, introduces an intimate scale and reinforces the atmosphere of homely tranquility that governs the scene.

By reconfiguring the archetype of the odalisque through uninhibited exuberance, the solemnity of the genre is displaced toward the realm of affection, cordial irony, and anatomical celebration. The magnetism of the figure does not pursue ethereal seduction or passive complacency; it is grounded, rather, in the certainty of a forceful physical presence that inhabits its own space with absolute autonomy.

La Chica

More works by Leda Astorga

15 works

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