Barrio Escalante, San José

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Madre, by Fernando Carballo. A vertical pull governs the figure: the hair surges toward the top like a dark plume or a flame defying gravity, while the body's weight seeks to settle into the lower quadrant.
  • Madre, by Fernando Carballo. A vertical pull governs the figure: the hair surges toward the top like a dark plume or a flame defying gravity, while the body's weight seeks to settle into the lower quadrant.
  • Madre, by Fernando Carballo, view 2

Fernando Carballo

Madre

Year
2015
Technique
Giclée
Dimensions
88 × 50 cm
Status
Available
Palette
carbon black, pure white, medium grey, anthracite grey, pearl grey
Brushwork
Finely cross-hatched graphite and charcoal strokes in dialogue with dense masses of black pigment and degraded glazes.

Curatorial analysis

A vertical pull governs the figure: the hair surges toward the top like a dark plume or a flame defying gravity, while the body's weight seeks to settle into the lower quadrant. Suspended along this axis between ascent and fall, the woman hovers within a space stripped of any horizon or architectural anchor. The white void of the paper does not function as an indifferent absence; it acts as an unforgiving light that compresses the silhouette, carving out each contour of the profile and torso with almost surgical sharpness.

The anatomy reveals a precise alternation of graphic treatments. The face, withdrawn and introspective, holds a broken, weathered texture akin to aged skin or eroded plaster. Lower down, the hands resting upon the swollen belly exhibit remarkable anatomical delicacy, articulated through fine cross-hatching and subtle linework that patiently sculpts their volume. This intimate rendering contrasts starkly with the dense black mass enveloping the lower half, a tide of deep pigment that conceals the lower limbs and turns the bottom of the body into a blind, almost lithic block, where only faint glazes and transparencies remain visible.

By stripping motherhood of any domestic anecdote or soft sentimentalism, the image approaches an archetypal dimension. Gestation is presented here as a state of austere withdrawal, a silent event where the vulnerability of the bare breast coexists with the telluric force of that dark base. The figure neither seeks the viewer's gaze nor asks for approval; she remains absorbed in her own physical and psychological transformation, held entirely by the tension between the abrasive whiteness of the paper and the resolute gravity of her shadow.

Madre

More works by Fernando Carballo

9 works

Available works

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