Hello, my name is Mariana Cordoba, and I am a Colombian-American abstract artist from Miami, FL. I currently live in London, and my primary artistic focus is to create colorful, textured paintings that embody the formal properties of art, namely layer, line, and texture. The foundation of my artistic practice began unexpectedly during a period of hospitalization at López Ibor Hospital in Madrid in 2014. At the time, painting became my primary means of expression and a way to communicate experiences that felt impossible to articulate through words alone. I had no formal artistic training and no intention of becoming an artist. I painted because I needed a way to express what I was feeling when language no longer felt sufficient. Looking back, I recognize that many of the visual elements that define my work today emerged during that period. My practice centers on the raw energy of marks, lines, asemic writing, and symbols, which originated as a personal visual language and continue to shape my work. When I first began painting, I often struggled to communicate my emotions through words. Mark-making became a way of expressing what could not be spoken, allowing feelings, memories, and experiences to exist on the canvas without translation. I am particularly interested in the moments when language begins to fail and marks take over as a form of communication. Through abstraction, I explore the space between feeling and expression, where meaning can emerge through gesture, movement, and visual language. Asemic writing plays an important role in my practice because of its primal and instinctive quality. It feels intuitive, almost like a second language, allowing me to connect directly with my emotions through the physical act of painting.
The symbols within my work do not carry fixed meanings. Instead, they function as emotional traces that remain open to interpretation, inviting viewers to experience the paintings on an instinctive and personal level. Through layered surfaces, chaotic lines, gestural marks, and symbolic forms, I explore how abstraction can communicate what often remains unspoken. I love the mystery of what a painting can be and am fascinated by paint, color, the process of layers, and how, through a slow buildup, one can create beauty. Both everyday people and objects with compelling texture, depth, or color inspire me. Although the creative process is central to my focus, it is essential to me that each piece evokes a discernible feeling when viewed.