Barroco moderno (2022) Painting by Eva Zavaleta

This is my first still life painting. I never agreed with most artists who have expressed that painting a portrait, a good one, is an herculean task that only few artists have the ability to create, for me an excelent still life painting represented a greater challenge. It is not a matter of complexity nor similarity, it is a matter of creating an atmosphere and provide an essence to inanimated objects by nourishing said atmosphere with part of our inner selves. About the elements: I chose tangerines due to my love for textures, and here in Mexico, it was the time of the year when they could be seen everywhere; the plastic bag seemed the perfect choice to provide a sense of uniqueness and spontaneity, and compositional wise added height without eclipsing the tangerines. As I tried to find the perfect arrangement and lighting, which took dozens of attempts, I realized I had not decided what was going to be the contrasting color against which the fruits would be protagonists, how was I supposed to turn a promising idea into something with a lasting impression? I began sketching and a sudden moment of anagnorisis struck me, it could be a black and orange painting, exploting textures and colors I aimed for a realistic painting that had a slight ressemblance to Caravaggio's dramatic chiaroscuro.

Related themes

StilllifePlasticOrangesCitricsBlack