María Berrío

María Berrío, A Cloud’s Roots

June 1 - August 30, 2019
Gallery 1 & 2

Kohn Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Los Angeles by New York-based artist María Berrío, opening on June 1, 2019. Inspired by her youth in the countryside of Bogotá, Colombia, Berrío’s paintings explore the experience of immigrant identity, intercultural connectivity and the beauty that is found in the diversity of cultures and countries. Berrío depicts her figures with richly detailed and patterned backgrounds of exteriors and interiors.The large, detailed mixed media canvases employ lush, carefully crafted, multilayered Japanese papers and paint, resulting in scenes replete with pensive yet confident figures amid a scene of visual exuberance.

Berrío’s work often places female figures at the center of her intricately woven landscapes. Painted with watercolor details, her figures stare out of the composition determined to confront the viewerfrom their own surreal surroundings. Her work is evocative of predecessors such as Gustav Klimtand Egon Schiele, both known for their exceptional degree of emotional directness and figuraldistortion in the place of conventional beauty. Her works float seamlessly between historical and contemporary artistic styles as they employ a wide visual vernacular ranging from expressionismto graphic, abstract marks.

The variety of media and techniques found in María Berrío’s practice emphasizes the interwoven cultural breadth of the world in which we live, where globalization and injustice touch the lives ofeveryone. Each character Berrío paints is a symbol of this new reality and the strength that canissue from it. For the artist, a female soldier on the front lines is as brave and mighty as the motherwho protects her children from the perils of war. These depictions of women are seen as guidingspirits who are strong, vulnerable, compassionate, courageous and in harmony with Nature andthemselves. With these combinations of human traits and emotions, Berrío fortifies her belief thatwith womanhood every action is considered beautiful and strong, no matter how small or large.

For her current show, A Cloud’s Roots, Berrío focuses especially on place and migration. Theindividuals are seen in preparation for their travels, in moments of transition, and in various statesof uncertainty. Berrío states, “the ambiguity is intentional; although I may have a specific idea inmind when making the work, the actual piece lacks cultural specificity to allow for all symbolicpossibilities.” Berrío therefore gravitates towards symbols with global cultural significance, such asbraids, birds, and flowers, with the hope that they allow diverse audiences to bring their ownunderstanding to the work.

In her recent work, A Cloud’s Roots (2018), Berrío creates a fictional species of tree based on thedragon’s blood tree, found exclusively on an island off the coast of Yemen. The dragon’s blood treehas adapted perfectly to the island’s desert-like climate and rocky soil, inhospitable to most otherplant life. It is a powerful symbol of survival and resilience, able to thrive even in the most unlikelyconditions. The figures in the piece are compelled to leave their home but they carry with them theknowledge that they too have the power to put down roots wherever they go.By reflecting on the beauty of our immigrant nation, Berrío’s new body of work aims to rewrite thenarrative of American history to include the stories of people who have long been excluded. Itmakes space for those who were not born in this country, but come here full of hope and desire tomake it their home. As the art canon expands its scope and redefines its boundaries, Berríoimagines a future in which people with diverse perspectives can walk into an institution and seethemselves reflected back. Berrío states, “so many immigrants, myself included, are stuck in theinbetween, not quite from here, and no longer from there. I create work that bears witness to thisliminal state of being and acknowledges it as an essential part of being American. I wish to conveythat which can never be conveyed: the sheer joy of being, of creation, and the undiscoverable mystery of being alive.”

Most recently, Berrío’s work was included in the Prospect.4 Triennial, New Orleans, LA; and in theexhibition, People Get Ready: Building a Contemporary Collection at the Nasher Museum of Art atDuke University, Durham, NC. This Summer 2019, Berrío will unveil her permanent installationommissioned by the MTA Arts and Design program in New York City subway stations, as well as commission for the Princeton University Art Museum in Princeton, NJ. In June 2019, Berrío’s work will be included in the group exhibition, Radical Love, at the Ford Foundation Gallery in New York, NY, a new exhibition space located within the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice.

About the Artist

Born 1982, Bogotá, Colombia
Lives and works in New York, NY

EDUCATION
2007 MFA School of Visual Arts
2004 BFA Parsons School of Design

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