Description

Carlos Quinto Kemm’s Inside/Out is a luminous, intricately layered meditation on intimacy, identity, and the unseen architecture of human connection. It is both a portrait and an x-ray—a visual love poem composed in layers of myth, flesh, memory, and spirit. As with many of Kemm’s works, this piece exists simultaneously in the symbolic and the emotional, unfolding like a surreal manuscript written in the language of the heart and the subconscious.

Three figures dominate the composition, bound together in a tender and complex constellation. At first glance, they appear to be lovers or soul companions, their faces gentle and contemplative. But on closer inspection, their connection is not just physical—it is alchemical, spiritual, and psychic. Their garments, skin, and hair are woven with jewels, feathers, architectural fragments, and celestial symbols, suggesting that their identities are not fixed, but constructed—layered with experience, desire, and ancestral memory.

The central male figure, serene and partially turned inward, wears a headdress of fish and eyes, a diadem of dual perception—intuition and insight. His exposed chest reveals anatomical structures and dreamlike symbols, as if his inner self is not hidden but deliberately offered. Beside him, a female figure with a latticework bodice and radiant coral-red crown rests her hand on a mystical blue orb—an image of the world itself. From it sprout delicate vines that wind upward, blooming into an ornate, flowering lattice that culminates in a serene Buddha head, contemplative and wise—the spiritual blossom of the world, suggesting enlightenment, awareness, and peace rooted in the very heart of life.

Behind them, a third figure emerges—not merely a pale echo, but an alchemical spirit, a subtle guardian angel or intermediary presence. Ethereal and lightly rendered, this being is not a ghost of either lover, but a guide—protective, sacred, and shared. It hovers between the two primary figures, bridging them with quiet intention, representing the spiritual bond that transcends individual identity and forms the unseen foundation of their union.

The entire composition is framed by two visual worlds: a radiant interior plane of glowing forms and divine symbols, nested within a more earthly, floral frame. The transition from the inner rectangle to the outer border reads like a symbolic journey from essence to surface. Petals, serpents, pearls, and birds ornament the edge, suggesting life’s flourishing chaos, while the interior space remains still, sacred, and contemplative.

Quinto Kemm reflects on the meaning behind Inside/Out: “This is a portrait of relationships that transcend physicality, of identities that extend beyond skin. It’s about the parts we reveal, the parts we protect, and the mysterious space in between where true connection begins.”

In Inside/Out, Kemm gives form to the emotional anatomy of love, trust, and interiority. It is an offering—intimate, strange, and beautiful—urging the viewer to look not just with their eyes, but with their inner sight.