Barrio Escalante, San José

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Misingo, by Leda Astorga. A dense yellow mass spills over the edge with the indolent elasticity characteristic of felines.
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Leda Astorga

MisingoInquire about availability

Year
2018
Technique
Papier-Mâché
Dimensions
44 × 45 cm
Status
Inquire about availability
Palette
ochre yellow, warm amber, steel blue, olive green, charcoal black
Brushwork
Paper pulp modeling with a granulated texture and flat color application with dark outlining.

Curatorial analysis

A dense yellow mass spills over the edge with the indolent elasticity characteristic of felines. The body does not conform to rigid anatomy, but rather to a malleable silhouette that descends diagonally, extending its rump and tail into the air while the head hangs into the void. This suspended gesture blurs the boundary between wall sculpture and relief, turning the support into a domestic ledge from which the animal peeks.

The papier-mâché provides a porous roughness that absorbs and reflects light unevenly. Far from pursuing a polished finish, the surface retains the traces of manual modeling, endowing the cat's back with an almost tactile vibration, as though fur were synthesized into the very coarseness of the pulp. This volumetric treatment contrasts directly with the lower plane: a solid blue band marked with graphic brushstrokes of foliage and quasi-botanical patterns, bounded by a sharp black contour reminiscent of illustration.

At the confluence of both planes lies the gaze: wide, fixed, and rounded, with pupils confronting the viewer in an immediate interplay between curiosity and mischief. Within that facial mask resides an expressive ambiguity where innocence and predatory alertness coexist, heightened by the small, folded ears and a muzzle synthesized into barely two curves. The tension between the apparent impending fall and the actual lightness of the material constructs a playful piece whose physical presence disrupts the wall, inserting an act of silent, unexpected watchfulness into the room.

Misingo

More works by Leda Astorga

15 works

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View all 15 works by Leda Astorga

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