My name is Mariana Cordoba, and I am a Colombian-American abstract artist from Miami, Florida, currently based in London. My work explores the expressive potential of color, texture, line, and mark-making through layered abstract compositions that invite emotional and intuitive engagement.

The foundation of my artistic practice began unexpectedly during a period of hospitalization at López Ibor Hospital in Madrid in 2014. At the time, I was struggling with anxiety and depression, and painting became my primary means of expression. I had no formal artistic training and no aspirations of becoming an artist. I simply painted because I needed a way to communicate experiences that felt impossible to articulate through words and feelings.

Looking back, I realize that many of the visual elements that define my work today emerged during that period. The asemic writing, symbols, and gestural marks that appear throughout my paintings originated as a personal language—a way of expressing emotion without needing to explain it. When words failed, marks became a form of communication. The symbols were never intended to carry fixed meanings; instead, they functioned as emotional traces, allowing feelings, memories, and experiences to exist on the canvas without translation. This remains central to my practice today.

My work centers on the raw energy of marks, lines, asemic writing, and symbolic forms. These elements are deliberately open-ended, inviting viewers to engage with the paintings through intuition rather than interpretation alone. Through layered surfaces, chaotic lines, and evolving compositions, I explore the spaces where language breaks down and visual expression takes over. I am interested in how abstraction can communicate what often remains unspoken and how meaning can emerge through gesture, texture, and repetition.

The creative process itself is deeply important to me. I am fascinated by paint, color, and the slow accumulation of layers—how through building, erasing, and rebuilding, a painting gradually reveals itself. I draw inspiration from everyday encounters, compelling textures, vivid colors, and the emotional complexity of lived experiences. While process is central to my work, I believe a painting must ultimately evoke a feeling, creating a direct and personal dialogue between viewer and artwork.

My journey with mental health has been neither immediate nor linear. As a teenager, I attended wilderness therapy, intensive outpatient treatment for eating disorders, residential treatment programs, and later experienced further hospitalizations. Throughout these experiences, art became a constant source of structure, purpose, and connection. Painting provided a way forward during moments when other forms of communication felt inaccessible. In many ways, art became a lifeline.

Since creating those first paintings, I have continued to develop my practice as an abstract artist, exhibiting internationally in Europe and South America, during Art Basel Week Miami, and through gallery representation. Yet the essence of my work remains rooted in the same impulse that first led me to paint: the desire to communicate beyond language and to transform difficult experiences into something meaningful.

Ultimately, my practice is an exploration of resilience, transformation, and the capacity of creative expression to bridge what cannot always be spoken. Through color, texture, symbols, and gesture, I seek to create spaces where emotions can be felt rather than explained, inviting viewers into a shared experience of ambiguity, connection, and possibility.

 Education

•      Royal College of Art, Painting MA London, England 2023-2024

•      University of Miami, Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism, Coral Gables, FL 2020-2021

o  University of Miami Bachelors of Arts, Studio Art December 2019

Selected Group Shows

2025

•      Travers Smith CRS Art, London June 2024 - June 2025

2024

•      Royal College of Art, Painting Degree Show, London, England June 2024

2023

•      Art off The Wall, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL March 2023

2022

•      Scope Miami, Miami Beach, FL December 2022

2021

•      Fig Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, November 2021

•      Ruta de los Puentes, Santander Spain October 2021

•      JustMad Madrid, Spain July 2021

2020

•      Inside Expressions Raw Space, Vero Beach October 2020

•      Green Life, Punta Del Este, Uruguay December 2019 - February 2020

2019

•      Boca Hotel Buenos Aires, Argentina December 2019

•      The Wharf Miami, Florida, USA December 2019

•      Hotel Cottage Carrasco, Montevideo, Uruguay August 2019

2018

•      Pinta Miami, FL December 2018

•      Amor en Acción, Coral Gables, FL May 2018

•      University of Miami Juried Art Show, Coral Gables, FL April 2018

•      Last to Leave, First to Arrive, Coral Gables, FL February 2018

Selected Solo Show

•      BoConcept Punta Del Este, Uruguay January 2020

•      Pinta Miami, Miami, Solo Projects December 2021

•      Inside Mariana’s World, Miami September 2022

Public Collections

•      Fundación Canaria Para el Desarrollo de la Pintura.