Barrio Escalante, San José

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Mi Reflejo, by Vernor Gallardo. Two identical faces separated by a vertical blue beam immediately assert the logic of the double.

Vernor Gallardo

Mi ReflejoInquire about availability

Year
2014
Technique
Oil/Canvas
Dimensions
93 × 148 cm
Status
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Palette
cobalt blue, mahogany, apple green, ivory, terracotta
Brushwork
Defined contour lines enclosing modulated chromatic fields with subtle gradients and mottled textured backgrounds.

Curatorial analysis

Two identical faces separated by a vertical blue beam immediately assert the logic of the double. On the right, a woman in an off-the-shoulder green-striped sweater extends her hand toward a small architectural structure; on the left, the specular surface returns her exact profile, yet stripped of clothing and suspended in an altered atmosphere. This is not a mimetic reflection: the mirror disobeys the reality of her attire and introduces spatial variations that shift the scene from domestic quietude into the realm of psychological enigma.

The geometry of the framing plays a decisive role. Beams and frames of intense cobalt blue structure the canvas into juxtaposed planes, evoking both a window and a mirror at once. Upon the table or ledge, her hand rests on a faceted cubic volume crowned by a tiny striped parasol, an almost playful artifact whose scale contrasts sharply with the monumentality of the figures. Within the reflected space, this architectural motif evolves into an ascending staircase topped by a small encapsulated heart, turning the intimate room into a metaphor for longing or distant memory.

The pictorial treatment underscores this mood of estrangement. The auburn hair, sculpted into dense, curving masses of significant visual weight, contrasts with the luminous pallor of the flesh tones, which are worked with glazes revealing warm terracotta undertones. In the background, an ivory wall textured with subtle mottling introduces breathing room into the composition, making the saturated greens and surrounding blues vibrate.

The distant gaze, seeking neither the viewer's eye nor that of its own reflection, seals the poetics of the painting. An airtight stillness envelops her gesture of touching the miniature, as though the true world inhabited by the figure were not the room itself, but that small architecture where emotional distance is measured step by step.

Mi Reflejo

More works by Vernor Gallardo

16 works

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