Praxis International Art is pleased to present Of Dreams and Hurricanes featuring works by two New York-based artists, Maria Berrio (b. Bogota, Colombia 1982) and Frances Gallardo (b. San Juan, Puerto Rico 1984).

Frances Gallardo, Berta, Pastel ink on cut paper, 12 inches diameter, 2010,

Magnificent settings in which elephant-headed dancers, surrounded by starry nights, colorful butterflies, sirens and bright goldfish seem to float in a timeless space. Such is this latest work by Maria Berrio, "paintings" on canvas constructed of bits and layers of torn paper that have traveled from all over the world to become a dream both indecipherable but engaging, like an unknown question to a known answer. 

Frances Gallardo, Marina, Pastel, fiberglass net, collage,

20x 25 3/4 inches, 2011

Frances Gallardo is a multimedia artist who grew up in Puerto Rico, an island used to the visit of tropical storms. Inspired by natural phenomena, a whole new series of delicate paper cutouts conform Hurricanes. Layers of colored papers, pastels and ink take the form of lace-like woven skirts of a dancer seen from above. 

Frances Gallardo, Jean y Hermes, Pastel on cut paper (Diptych),

40 x 51 1/2 inches, 

Music flows from these artists' bodies of work. The viewer becomes involved in a sweet embrace of multiple textures, colors and undulating forms that blur the limits of figures and shapes, intertwining them with their backgrounds. The richness of these works that evoke the real, the imaginary, and sometimes the sacred, materialize fantastical but intimate scenes and Caribbean rhythms.

Frances Gallardo, Carmen, Cut paper,

27 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches, 2011,

Maria Berrio holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design and a MFA from School of Visual Arts, New York City. Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States. Berrio was recently awarded a residency at Chashama in Brooklyn and is currently commissioned with CityArts to create a mural in Harlem. Frances Gallardo lives between San Juan and New York. Her work ranges from performances, sculptural pieces and interventions that explore the poetic possibilities and plasticity of a material close to our everyday life: paper. She is currently an artist-in-residence at The Center for Book Arts in New York and her work will be featured at the upcoming III Polygraphic Triennial of San Juan and the Caribbean. 

Praxis International Art was founded in Buenos Aires in 1977. With the broad spectrum of its program, Praxis plays a vital role as a nexus between artists, collectors, curators, and art critics throughout the world, and is an important reference point within the Latin American cultural sphere.