Barrio Escalante, San José

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La Jota y La Quina, by José Luis López Escarré. Two hieratic presences dominate the horizontal plane in a suspended dialogue, where the imagery of playing cards and theatrical archetypes seem to merge.

José Luis López Escarré

La Jota y La QuinaInquire about availability

Year
1973
Technique
Oil/Canvas
Dimensions
67 × 106 cm
Status
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Palette
charcoal black, garnet, chalk white, pale flesh, carmine
Brushwork
Black graphic outlining with fluid brushstrokes, areas of scumbling, and localized impasto on exposed canvas.

Curatorial analysis

Two hieratic presences dominate the horizontal plane in a suspended dialogue, where the imagery of playing cards and theatrical archetypes seem to merge. On the left, a face severed with geometric precision embodies human duality: one half sinks into absolute black, while the other emerges in a spectral white with an eye veiled beneath heavy lashes, crowned by a curved headdress of fiery carmine. On the right, a pale profile with disproportionate, almond-shaped eyes holds the gaze with an almost hypnotic intensity, standing out with delicate fragility against the gloom. Between both figures, what separates them is not physical distance, but a gulf of complicity, tension, and psychological reserve.

The pictorial matter is resolved through a strict yet vibrant chromatic economy, stripped down to the confrontation between lamp black, chalk white, and a dense range of garnet and vermilion reds. López Escarré works the oil paint allowing the canvas grain to breathe beneath lean glazes, contrasted with thicker impastos on the faces that catch light frontally. A thick, agile, and definitive black line traverses the surface with calligraphic rhythm, outlining necks, cheekbones, and drapery folds, establishing an undulating cadence that likens the figures to traditional card engravings or commedia dell'arte masks.

The artist avoids anecdotal description, concentrating the scene's power on non-communication and secrecy. The ear stylized like a musical clef, the lips sealed in a restrained grimace, and the flattened pictorial space all reinforce an atmosphere of hermetic ritual. By eliminating any reference to a recognizable setting, the darkness of the background pushes both beings toward the foreground, trapping them in a perpetual confrontation where the viewer acts as an involuntary witness to a game that never truly concludes.

La Jota y La Quina

More works by José Luis López Escarré

2 works

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