Essays, Issue 8

María Berrío

Layered materials and meanings give rise to mesmerizing worlds

Words SALOMÉ GÓMEZ-UPEGUI

Photography VINCENT TULLO

At first glance, María Berrío’s enthralling works can easily be mistaken for paintings purely rendered in watercolors or acrylics. Lean in closer, however, and the unique composition of her larger-than-life characters in exuberant surroundings, reveals the artist’s masterful use of collage. Berrío has made a name for herself by pushing the boundaries of this ever-changing medium, ripe for experimentation. Using lush papers of all sorts of hues, prints, and textures, primarily sourced from Japan, she engages in a meticulous process of tearing, cutting, and setting details over and over again to breathe life into her remarkable oeuvre. Above all, the gifted artist considers herself a storyteller who layers memories with myths and modern tales to create worlds that survey pressing themes like migration, ecology, and ritual.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, and now based in Brooklyn, Berrío always knew she’d devote her life to art. “I always drew. I always painted. It’s always been part of who I am, and I have never imagined being something else,” she says.

Reminiscing about her childhood, she recalls being surrounded by music, dance, and nature and is overcome with joy when describing the many days spent at her family’s farm on the outskirts of the Colombian capital. “My father would wake us up with Gregorian chants…We were always wandering around, playing with plants, and it was very important for me to find that connection to nature and animals and to see that there’s something beyond humans,” she says.

In her late teens, Berrío migrated to New York City to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design, from which she graduated in 2004. Years later, she completed an MFA at the New York School of Visual Arts. Back then, she began to experiment with large-scale charcoal drawings and painting, although the latter never felt quite right. “Painting felt really messy, and I always felt like I couldn’t relate to the paintbrush. It didn’t feel as organic as just taking a piece of charcoal and going straight to the paper,” Berrío recalls.

Knowing that Berrío loved paper, one of her close friends from the MFA, who happened to be from Japan, introduced her to Japanese papers and suggested she try out collage. From then onward, Berrío became enthralled with the art form and began sourcing most of her papers directly from the Asian country.

Still today, Berrío is as enamored with the material as ever. “I love the feel, the smell, the different tactile sensations between different types, the colors, and the enormous amount of care that goes into making them. I love all the possibilities [paper] provides and how it continues to surprise me,” she says.

When contemplating Berrío’s oeuvre, I feel captivated by this ever-present feeling of surprise. Taking in every form, texture, hue, and detail requires a careful dance of proximity and distance, and while her distinct style imbues a sense of familiarity into her characters and settings, no two works ever feel or look the same.

Indeed, Berrío sees collage as a medium that is in constant flux, allowing her to unearth new possibilities time and time again. She believes her relationship with paper is always changing and as she discovers new fabricators, colors, finishes, and gradients, she employs novel papers or experiments with papers she has used before in fresh ways. “The paper is always telling me what the next step is,” she explains.

Berrío’s works contain a distinct physicality that reflects the peculiar process that goes into creating each one of her pieces. “I like to say that I draw with an exacto knife. There is a roughness to the act of cutting and tearing but then there is also an incredible softness when you spend hours working on meticulous details. I like to play in between those moments,” she explains.

“After so many years of experimenting with this medium, I have developed a memory bank of sorts. When I’m making a painting, I can go through those mental files and see what will work: what will be the appropriate thickness, what color or pattern may be appropriate. I’ve come to rely on experience a lot more as I’ve developed my practice. And yet, there are still so many new experiments and techniques to discover,” she says.

“Technically, nothing remains consistent in the work. I treat every painting as its own entity and I like to think that each painting is made with papers that I won’t be able to find again. Having that in mind, I give myself some sort of freedom knowing that what I am making is driven by my intuition and that if I develop guidelines or methods, I might get bored,” she adds.

Aside from layering actual pieces of paper, Berrío also incorporates a wide range of meanings into her art. Working on numerous pieces at once, she often moves from canvas to canvas, allowing different ideas to collide and unravel.