Barrio Escalante, San José

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Madre, by Fernando Carballo. A sweeping curve sustains the entire gravitational pull of the image: the pregnant belly presses forward into the blank white space, while an earthy, heavily textured mass seems to cradle it from behind.

Fernando Carballo

Madre

Year
2004
Technique
Screen Print
Dimensions
60 × 48 cm
Status
Available
Palette
dark brown, burnt sienna, flesh ochre, warm white, soft earth
Brushwork
Dense weave of superimposed cross-hatched lines modeling chiaroscuro and volumetric density

Curatorial analysis

A sweeping curve sustains the entire gravitational pull of the image: the pregnant belly presses forward into the blank white space, while an earthy, heavily textured mass seems to cradle it from behind. The female figure, captured in a strict profile, withdraws into herself in a gesture of profound introspection. Her hands, rendered with slender, precise contours, rest over the swelling abdomen as if acknowledging or safeguarding a weight that feels as telluric as it is physical.

The silkscreen process faithfully translates the tactile quality of freehand drawing, employing a dense weave of cross-hatched lines that models both the substance of the flesh and the shadow enveloping it. Toward the right, the hair and back dissolve into a mesh of brown and ochre strokes that drifts toward the margins, blurring the boundary between the figure and its surrounding space. The body does not pose before a decorative backdrop; rather, it appears to emerge from the very fibrous atmosphere that sustains it.

The luminous contrast operates with restrained precision. Against the deep darkness concentrated beneath the hands on the lower abdomen, the face and breast receive a clean, pale light that outlines the features with an almost archaic serenity. With closed eyes, a straight nose, and a gentle chin, the figure sheds any anecdotal reference, anchoring herself in a timeless sphere. A palpable tension arises between the fragility of that illuminated profile and the massive solidity of the lower body, rooted firmly in the earth.

Through this interplay of forces, motherhood is stripped of traditional idyllic iconography. What endures is the quiet concentration of a body inhabiting its own transformation, weighed with shadow and held within the fullness of its own volume.

Madre

More works by Fernando Carballo

9 works

Available works

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