Barrio Escalante, San José

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Pez Vela, by Yenssi Campos. A diagonal cut traverses the canvas with the force of a living projectile.

Yenssi Campos

Pez VelaSold

Year
2008
Technique
Acrylic/Canvas
Dimensions
91 × 122 cm
Status
Sold
Palette
turquoise blue, navy blue, dark indigo, aquamarine, greyish ochre
Brushwork
Blended, atmospheric brushwork in the seabed with hyper-defined drawing and luminous highlights on the anatomy.

Curatorial analysis

A diagonal cut traverses the canvas with the force of a living projectile. In the foreground, the sailfish halts its run just below the surface, cleaving the aquatic space with its pointed rostrum and unfurling the formidable dorsal crest that defines its silhouette. Its anatomy is rendered with remarkable descriptive rigor: the smooth texture of the skin, the muscular tension along the flanks, and the design of the bifurcated caudal fin convey a contained acceleration, as though underwater time had frozen in a fraction of a second.

Sunlight filters down from the upper edge in luminous ripples that break the surface and cast reflections across the animal's back. At this junction between the illuminated water and the dark spine, the acrylic articulates the phenomenon of marine caustics with great clarity. Transverse bands along the torso, punctuated by flecks of vibrant cobalt blue, contrast with the bronze, silver, and olive-green tones of the belly, lending the body a tactile and iridescent relief. Below, the pelvic fins descend like two dark, flexible ribbons gauging the current, counterbalancing the mass of the dorsal sail above.

To the right, a second, diminished specimen punctures the isolation of the foreground and opens a deep perspective into the pelagic expanse. This spatial counterpoint not only confirms the vastness of the oceanic environment, but also reinforces the sensation of coordinated motion in open water. The turquoise background, deepening into denser and colder blues toward the bottom, wraps both creatures in a suspended stillness that contrasts with the intrinsic ferocity of their biological design.

Pez Vela

More works by Yenssi Campos

4 works

Available works

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