Discreet Charm presents Juan de la Rica’s latest exploration of the female figure, bringing together sixteen recent paintings and a selection of works on paper—many of which began as preparatory sketches for the canvases. Together, these works trace the fluid dialogue between study and resolution, intimacy and structure.

Continuing the artist’s exploration of composition, this body of work examines how bodies occupy and define space, how proportions can be stretched or compressed, and how forms connect and interact across the pictorial field. Built from synthetic shapes and bold chromatic contrasts, the paintings carry a playful, almost pop-like energy, yet beneath this surface vibrancy lies a quiet tension and subtle sense of unease.

The drawings provide a more intimate perspective into the studio process. Executed in colored pencil, they uncover the artist’s working rhythm—the translation of gesture into form and the moment where impulse takes shape. Seen together, the paintings and drawings articulate a conversation between immediacy and deliberation, revealing a practice attuned to both the allure and ambiguity of representation.