Ricardo Romero Cortez Duque

The Sea Didn’t Need Witnesses / 30×40” / acrylic on canvas

The story takes place in a stretch of water that exists entirely on its own terms. The surface is layered with shifting blues and soft, weathered textures, moving steadily but without urgency. Flecks of darker pigment and pale light drift through the water like fragments of thought—present, then gone.

Above the horizon, the sky opens gently, brushed with warm cream and cool gray, offering contrast without command. Nothing here performs. There are no crashing waves, no dramatic skies—only the quiet persistence of motion continuing whether or not it is observed.

The Sea Didn’t Need Witnesses is a story about independence and endurance. It speaks to the comfort of knowing that some things remain whole without attention, and that beauty can exist without audience—complete, ongoing, and unconcerned with being remembered.