Barrio Escalante, San José

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Miradas a lo que Somos, by Marijose Terán. A monumental face emerges from a palimpsest of daily newsprint, dismantling the boundary between psychological intimacy and collective noise.
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Marijose Terán

Miradas a lo que Somos

Year
2018
Technique
Mixed Media
Dimensions
150 × 130 cm
Status
Available
Palette
newspaper beige, charcoal black, aged silver, toasted sepia, dark slate blue
Brushwork
Stratified collage of newspapers and metal leaf worked with charcoal drawing and tonal glazes.

Curatorial analysis

A monumental face emerges from a palimpsest of daily newsprint, dismantling the boundary between psychological intimacy and collective noise. In this imposing format, the subject's presence does not assert itself through stridency but through an inquisitive serenity: the hand resting casually against the chin, lips parting in the hint of a smile, and dark, lucid eyes sustain a direct dialogue that disarms the viewer's haste.

The construction of the portrait relies on a rigorous material stratification. Beneath the charcoal lines and sepia washes breathe newspaper clippings, antique pattern sheets, headline fragments, and aged papers weathered by time. Legible phrases such as "a lo que somos" or "Tan lejos, tan cerca" do not function as mere background ornamentation, but as subcutaneous tissue; the woman's skin seems literally constituted by the printed narrative, graphic memory, and the ephemeral events that populate everyday life.

Toward the upper edge, metallic leaf with silver glints bursts forcefully over the warm tones, introducing a fractured light that shifts with the viewer's angle. In contrast, the upper right quadrant plunges into a dense, dark floral pattern reminiscent of domestic wallpaper, anchoring the scene in an almost private atmosphere. Chiaroscuro models the planes of the cheek, nose, and neck with sculptural precision, allowing the torn edges of the paper to accentuate the bone structure and cast shadows.

By fusing the epidermis with the written word and domestic ornament, the figure becomes a map where the intimate and the social coexist. We witness not merely the physiognomy of an individual, but the way identity is woven from personal affections, forgotten headlines, and the cultural sediment of the era we inhabit.

Miradas a lo que Somos

More works by Marijose Terán

60 works

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