Tendre Complicité II — 'tender complicity' — sits within Karlos Ibarra's ongoing study of the human figure as a vessel for feeling rather than likeness. The Mexican painter leaves his subjects largely featureless, reaching past resemblance toward emotional truth: the desire, vulnerability, and quiet understanding that pass between two people. Complicity — a shared, unspoken closeness — is precisely the register these paintings work in.

Built in acrylic, the figures are shaped by a cool, particular light and thick, deliberate brushwork that leaves the paint visibly worked. Nudity serves feeling rather than eroticism, and the missing facial detail turns attention to how the bodies lean, meet, and hold. Ibarra keeps the balance taut, so tenderness reads as something earned rather than assumed.

Acrylic on canvas · 2026 · 90 × 70 cm (35.4 × 27.6 in) · Unique · Mounted on a wooden frame · Certificate of authenticity included