Ricardo Partida’s work largely critiques and illuminates depictions of gender and desire in the Western art canon. Using the visual language of the figura serpentinata, his works exalt alter egos that question conventional power structures while obscuring artist and subject. Through the use of surface treatments and mark-making, and by hybridizing lines and proportions previously associated with a gendered painting language, Partida creates surrogacies of seduction that explore carnal desires through a push-and-pull of menace and allure.