Barrio Escalante, San José

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Resiliencia, by Carlos Tapia. A tree jutting out horizontally from a sheer rock face immediately upends any passive logic of gravity.
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Carlos Tapia

Resiliencia

Year
2020
Technique
Acrylic/Canvas
Dimensions
98 × 99 cm
Status
Available
Palette
cerulean blue, magenta, dark green, golden yellow, lilac, sienna brown
Brushwork
Pointillist impastos in the foliage over smooth color fields and faceted planes with prominent outlining

Curatorial analysis

A tree jutting out horizontally from a sheer rock face immediately upends any passive logic of gravity. Anchored by gnarled roots clinging to a cliff fractured like a stained-glass window of deep blues and violets, the trunk thrusts tenaciously into open space, crowned by a radiant canopy of fiery foliage. There is a dramatic force in this botanical anatomy, where the rock does not serve as a mere support, but as a faceted, hermetic mass that the living organism manages to colonize.

The surrounding landscape dialogues with this tension through an uninhibited chromatic vitality. At the foot of the precipice, rows of coffee bushes descend in rhythmic bands of deep green separated by electric magenta furrows, a daring contrast that transforms agricultural order into a pulsating rhythm. Toward the background, the hills shed that deliberate intensity, receding into serene planes of mint, pale turquoise, and lilac, establishing atmospheric depth that eases the drama without softening its character.

The painted surface plays with two distinct tactile treatments: while the stone strata and distant hills are resolved in flat fields bounded by firm contours, the treetop erupts in pointillist impasto touches of pure red, orange, and yellow. These small material dabs appear to hang suspended in the air like flakes of light or petals scattering across the cerulean sky, lending the scene an almost musical rhythm.

The title thus takes on a precise visual dimension. Survival is not presented here as resignation or wear beneath hardship, but as a triumphant outburst of visual life. The flora defies mineral hardness without asking for permission, overflowing the picture plane in a celebration of color that turns the rocky edge into a springboard for endurance.

Resiliencia

More works by Carlos Tapia

153 works

Available works

View all 153 works by Carlos Tapia

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