Artwork Description
Orlando Leyba – Posito Quemado (Scorched Earth)
Dimensions: 21.5 x 17.5″ finished size / 21.5 x 17.5″ unframed
Year: 2016
Medium: mixed media on panel
In Posito Quemada (Scorched Earth), Orlando Leyba juxtaposes planes of blue and beige to recall a scene of earth and sky, using amorphic detailing to disturb this delineation in a way that is reminiscent of the seamless New Mexican landscape. Any allusions to recognizable forms, however, end there; Leyba’s range of influences, which include everything from childhood memories to his ancestral lands, ensure that the features of many of his works allude formal specificity. As revealed within the title of the work, Leyba indicates a sense of transformation in the same way that fire results in physical erosion, where the painting’s dynamic quality suggests a change from one state to another.