The Space
In Between
Two works on handmade cotton paper. Mixed media, embedded poetry, deckle edges. 2026. The complete archive — POLISHED and UNWRITE, in conversation, in tension, in the space between what gets said and what gets buried.
POLISHED and UNWRITE are two works on handmade cotton paper — 8.5 × 11, deckle-edged, made in the same period, from the same hands, toward the same unanswerable question. They are the complete record of something that happened in a studio. Not the beginning of a series. Not a statement of intent. Just what got made when the work was honest.
The collection is named after a line written directly onto one of the pieces. The space between them is not empty. It's where the thesis lives.
The ground is a warm pink wash — unguarded, alive. A vertical black line divides the composition: organic on the left, geometric on the right, a botanical form in deep burgundy and navy hovering in the center of the right half. Blue-violet erupts at the base where both zones meet. The architectural gesture doesn't separate these worlds. It holds them in a tension that doesn't resolve.
The collection is named after a line written into this piece. It wasn't a title that came from outside the work. It came from inside it.
Because you believe that you cannot be loved for who you are, you have decided to be valued for what you do; in the end, class shame was your fatal open wound.
The ground is warm ochre — the color of something human, something that was alive before the paint arrived. Everything over it is pressure. Black masses push down from the top. Gray-white marks cross in an X that neither cancels nor clears — it just covers, incompletely, the way suppression works when it doesn't work.
In the lower right, outside the paint: Michael de la Guerra 2026 / The Abstract Crisis Phase.
The poems I can't unwrite are the worst ones.
I still grieve.
The rest is partially buried. You can see it's there. You can't fully read it.
Dark wooden float frames. Sold and shipped as a pair.
Both pieces.
One collector.
POLISHED and UNWRITE are intended to be collected as a pair. They were made together, from the same materials, toward the same question. The collector who takes one will know the other exists.
Individual acquisition is available. But the pair is the complete work.
- Both original works on deckle-edged handmade cotton paper, 8.5 × 11 in each
- Matte black float frames — both pieces framed at time of sale
- Certificate of authenticity for each work
- Insured shipping from Los Angeles
- Direct correspondence with the artist
Originals are final sale. Shipping costs calculated at checkout based on destination. Contact assistant@michaeldelaguerra.com with questions before purchase.