Barrio Escalante, San José

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Viva la Vida, by Johnny Villares. The tiny scale of the painting, barely larger than the palm of a hand, amplifies the devotional magnetism of this figure enthroned against the horizon.

Johnny Villares

Viva la VidaInquire about availability

Year
1990
Technique
Acrylic
Dimensions
24 × 19 cm
Status
Inquire about availability
Palette
sky blue, greenish black, carnation pink, antique gold, forest green
Brushwork
Polished and meticulous brushwork, with subtle blending on the face and graphic detail of great linear precision in the ornamentation.

Curatorial analysis

The tiny scale of the painting, barely larger than the palm of a hand, amplifies the devotional magnetism of this figure enthroned against the horizon. In her face coexist the hermetic neatness of Renaissance portraiture and the lavishness of a viceregal reliquary. Her gaze, askance and icy blue, does not seek out the viewer; it suspends itself in a blind spot that neutralizes any temporal urgency, while the skin, modeled with almost imperceptible tonal gradations, offers a stillness bordering on the inanimate.

The architectural weight of the headdress commands the upper third like a ceremonial crown encrusted with gems, golden filigree, and cherubs. At its center, the oval medallion proclaims «Viva la vida» under the guardianship of a small winged figure, turning the attire into a portable altarpiece. This ornamental density, saturated with deep blacks, emeralds, and rubies, finds its exact counterweight in the lightness around the neck, where a white lace ruff rendered with miniaturist precision unfurls transparencies that breathe against the dark fabric.

Toward the bottom, this hieratic sovereignty dissolves subtly into undergrowth. The dark foliage framing the chest belongs neither to the courtly nor the liturgical realm; tiny blossoms sprout among its leaves, sheltering a blue songbird and an emerald lizard. These two living creatures, alert and minute in scale, tether the mystical effigy to a wilder order. Behind her, the green field extends horizontally toward a low horizon line beneath a clear sky dotted with cottony clouds. The apparent paradox between jeweled artifice and living nature defines the pulse of the image: a timeless queen guarding, within her sacred rigidity, the secret germination of the landscape.

Viva la Vida

More works by Johnny Villares

6 works

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