Veins beneath ash
- Technique
- Mixed media on canvas: undulating vertical cords of cardboard and paper adhered, coated with a granular mineral paste and grey and yellow acrylic glazes.
- Dimensions
- 90 × 100 cm
- Year
- 1988
Undulating vertical cords open yellow veins beneath an ash-grey patina. The relief structures a slow reading, between porosity and sedimentation.
About the work
On this almost square plane, a series of vertical cords unfolds with a slight sway, as if the surface were registering an internal current. The sequence grows denser towards the centre and, above all, to the right, where the undulations gain presence; the more open left edge functions as a breath and accentuates the drift of the rhythm.
The grey skin, matte and speckled, acts as a unifying veil: it mutes contrast and allows the drawing of the relief to modulate the image. Light settles on the edges of each crest and gathers in the narrow concavities in between, generating a precise alternation of fine shadow and subdued sheen. That effect shifts with the viewing angle, making the physical character of the painting visible.
Between the cords, yellow emerges as fragmented deposits, with irregular edges and a granulation that recalls mineral sediment. It does not appear as a gesture, but as an outcrop: particles and plates rising beneath the ash, tightening the chromatic calm. The texture—sandy, almost stony—turns colour into a tactile event and sustains a temporality of strata, patient and contained.
