November 23, 2025 0 Contemporary art, Costa Rica, Exhibition Belinda Eros y Tanatos Eros y Tanatos: An Exhibition of Latin American Dark Figurative Art by Pablo Mejías and Gregory Fage in San José See this week's newsletter. On 28 November 2025, the Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría in Alajuela, a public institution in Costa Rica for historical and cultural programming, opens Eros y Tanatos, a joint exhibition by Costa Rican figurative artists Pablo Mejias and Gregory Fage. Both artists are part of a growing scene in the region: Latin American dark figurative art where psychological tension and classical reference meet contemporary experience. The museum has long supported discussions around contemporary cultural production, and is a fitting setting for these two artists whose work explores psychological tension and myth. The title Eros y Tanatos references figures in classical mythology where Eros is associated with desire, vitality, and the impulse toward life, while Thanatos represents calm, peaceful death. It is this duality of force that underpins our everyday. Eros y Tanatos presents a selection of bold, emotionally charged figurative paintings that reference these classical themes in different personal, reflective ways. Eros and Thanatos are used to explore vulnerability and the experience of confronting oneself. For both artists, painting is a way of examining internal conflict and articulating emotions. Their approach introduces moments of release from the accelerated, hyper-rational rhythm of modern life. We spoke with each artist about their contributions to the exhibition. Pablo Mejias Mejias is becoming increasingly recognised in Costa Rica for a psychologically charged figurative style that often incorporates hybrid beings, water, suspended bodies, birds or fish in states of metamorphosis, balancing beauty with a sense of unease. His work is incredibly personal, and within the context of Eros y Tanatos it reflects interior states that portray multiple facets of the psyche. Pablo Mejias, Mordedura de los fuegos erógenos, Oil on canvas Much of this style is derived from Mejias’ childhood, marked by the loss of his brother. This devastasting experience continues to inform the emotional terrain of his practice, and naturally underpin his paintings presented in Eros y Tanatos. He describes how painting allows him to express his deepest feelings: “I approached the subject of the exhibition with great passion because it speaks to my very essence; people will see a very powerful exhibition that technically encompasses a mix of classical elements with modern ones. For me it’s interesting because I can express myself and materialize my deepest feelings on the canvas. It’s like a kind of metaphorical exorcism.” His technical process begins with grisaille before building into dramatic shifts of light and shadow. Working partly by candlelight heightens this intensity, giving his surfaces the atmospheric charge often associated with Latin American dark figurative art. The result is a psychological terrain where figures feel mythic, yet intimate. Gregory Fage Fage is part of the artistic lineage of Casa Fage, the Costa Rican atelier founded by his parents, Anthony and Anabelle Fage. Raised within this creative environment, he absorbed classical painting disciplines and bronze sculptural practices from an early age. Today he continues the family tradition while carving out his own painting path. For Eros y Tanatos he turns to mythology and classical sculpture, executing a series of 17 new paintings all painted in 2025. Gregory Fage, Titan, Oil on canvas Fage explains: “My work is always connected to the human condition, but with this exhibition I wanted to use myth and classical sculpture as the link through which to comment on time and the human path from birth to death—similar to the hero’s journey described in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a seminal study that maps the recurring structure of the hero’s journey across global mythologies. Campbell describes a progression in which an individual is called into unfamiliar territory, meets trials, undergoes transformation, and returns altered. For Fage, this cyclical movement offers a way to reflect on how human beings navigate change and adversity. This classical technique affects his worldview: “I believe that a deep commitment to what one loves requires an honest and vulnerable connection. Classical techniques, and my respect for classical artists, give me the humility I need not only to work but also to live each day, and they remind me of the potential that can be reached through diligence.” -- says Fage. The emotional register of his paintings varies widely. Some works focus on archetypal states, such as pain, serenity, guilt, courage, fatigue, whereas others revive impressions from childhood, including the sensation of inhabiting a fantastical world. Together, they form a body of work that feels reflective and attentive to the shifts that define a life. Presenting Eros y Tanatos at the Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría situates the project within a meaningful regional context, while promoting conversations around Latin American dark figurative art. The museum is important to Costa Rica’s cultural scene and continues to promote artistic dialogue in the broader Latin American framework. On 28 November at 7:00 PM, visitors will encounter two exciting emerging Costa Rican painters that work between personal experiences and archetypal imagination. Eros and Thanatos remain ancient concepts, but in the hands of Mejias and Fage, they become contemporary questions: How do we live? How do we face change? And what remains when myth becomes a mirror rather than a story? Eros y Tanatos | Latin American Dark Figurative Art MÍRAME Contact Information: Email: [email protected] Follow: Facebook | Instagram
