




Tropical still life, leaves with black seeds
2025
Broad, luminous leaves fill the picture plane in Manoela Medeiros's 2025 painting, their surfaces alive with the layered density of acrylic paint, acrylic paste, mineral pigment, and a process of excavation that cuts back through accumulated matter to reveal what lies beneath. Black seeds punctuate the composition with quiet insistence, anchoring the organic abundance of the foliage in something more elemental and cyclical. The work belongs to Medeiros's ongoing investigation of the Brazilian natural world rendered not as illustration but as material encounter, where the canvas becomes a kind of geological record of mark, removal, and re-inscription. The excavation technique is central to understanding the painting's particular texture and depth. Rather than building exclusively outward, Medeiros works in both directions, adding and subtracting to produce surfaces that catch light unevenly and reward close looking. The result is a still life that resists the stillness its genre implies, feeling instead like something caught mid-process, mid-growth, mid-decay. Mineral pigments lend an earthiness that synthetic paint alone cannot replicate, grounding the tropical palette in the landscape from which these forms originate. Measuring 70 by 50 centimeters with a substantial 4.5-centimeter depth, the work carries a physical presence that exceeds its format. Signed by the artist and presented unframed, it is well-suited to collectors seeking to show the raw edges and sculptural character that a frame would obscure. Medeiros is represented by Nara Roesler, and this painting reflects the ambition and material intelligence that have brought her growing recognition within contemporary Brazilian painting.
- Medium
- Acrylic paint, acrylic paste, mineral pigment and excavation on canvas
- Overall
- Signed
- Yes
- Location
- Nara Roesler, New York, NY
- Spotted At
- Gallery · Nara RoeslerView on map
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