#19018 Matias Quetglas

The composition presents a still life arrangement centered around several snail shells nestled amongst rocks and what appears to be dried foliage on a dark, roughly hewn plank. The color palette is dominated by warm tones – ochre, burnt sienna, and rust – creating an overall impression of dryness and decay. A pervasive orange hue saturates the background, lending a hazy, almost dreamlike quality to the scene.
The artist’s handling of paint is loose and expressive; brushstrokes are visible and contribute to the textural complexity of the work. The shells themselves are rendered with a degree of realism in their form, yet they lack sharp definition, appearing softened by the surrounding atmosphere. They seem to emerge from the darkness rather than being sharply illuminated.
The arrangement feels deliberately haphazard, suggesting an encounter with nature’s detritus – a collection of discarded elements. This evokes themes of transience and the cyclical nature of life and death. The contrast between the delicate spiral forms of the shells and the rough, angular shapes of the rocks introduces a tension between fragility and permanence.
The dark plank serves as a grounding element, but its uneven surface and the shadows it casts further contribute to the sense of instability and impermanence. The limited depth of field flattens the composition, emphasizing the two-dimensionality of the canvas and drawing attention to the interplay of color and texture rather than spatial illusion.
The work’s subtexts might explore themes of memory, loss, or the passage of time. The muted colors and decaying elements suggest a nostalgic contemplation of something that has faded or been lost. It is possible to interpret this as an exploration of the beauty found in decay – a celebration of the natural processes of transformation and renewal.