Artist Studio

Meet The Others: Natalia Cajiao

The Game Changers. The Rule Breakers. The Innovators. Discover some of the fantastic emerging talent showcasing their work at The Other Art Fair.

Columbia based artist Natalia Cajiao’s colorful mixed media work is inspired by the vision of the cosmos of ancestral traditions and the spiritual vision of Mother Nature. We asked Natalia a few questions to learn more about her varied and vibrant practice.

Sensitive Nature, Natalia Cajiao

Can you tell us more about your process?

In my work I integrate different graphic-plastic techniques (drawing, painting, monotype, engraving, screen printing), photography, digital art and I also make video, installations and performance.

My painted images are born from observation, study, recording, drawing and composing the organic forms of nature (plants, roots, leaves, fruits, seeds and flowers), and the structural biology (molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysics). From this research, I compose a matrix or tissue made up of multiple translucent colored layers.

My creative process comes and goes between the representation of figurative and metaphysical abstraction. Seeking to find my free expression and the internal force that leads me to unite myself from my unique and holistic being with the entire cosmos.

What are you inspired by?

I rescue the spiritual vision in art as a necessary expression for the human being in our evolution as conscious living entities. I am inspired by the vision of the cosmos of our ancestral traditions and the spiritual vision of Mother Nature. I express myself from my inner feeling of gratitude and amazement at the mystery of life and death. Inviting the spectator to observe through my paintings the etheric forces that are invisible to our eyes, but that from a holistic vision we can understand that we are energy and matter at the same time.

Will you tell us more about your use of color?

My paintings represent an explosion of my passionate and sensitive pulsation of how I feel and live. Living in Colombia, in the tropical forest where the temperature is warm, my colors are bright and contrasted. I relate the presence of light using vivid colors. For me the language of color is radiation and energy, and its pigmentation depends on variables that I observe in nature and in microscopic photographs. These photographic files inspire me to paint with saturated and flourishing colors that overlap with others, between layers and transparencies. Enjoying the experience of the magical universe of color, with its glazed backgrounds and tonal atmospheres. My profession as a professor of Color Theory has guided me to understand the harmonic relationships of color and its correct ways to apply them together for impressive results.

You work across multiple mediums, but there is a continuous emphasis on matrix’s and geometric shapes. Can you tell us a bit more about your interest in these forms?

My interest in the matrix and geometric shape comes from wanting to understand the mystery of our so perfect existence. Taking as a starting point the relationship between microbiology, morphogenesis and cosmology.  This omnipresent cosmic matrix breathes a permanent pulsation, revealing its creative forces at all times, generating energy in matter. Apparently they are invisible cosmic forces, but we can observe them in the forms of nature and their manifestation in each kingdom (mineral, vegetable, animal and human). We can also observe its presence in cellular metabolism (anabolic and catabolic process), as well as in the expansion and contraction forces that define the organic forms of nature linked to the rhythm of birth, growth, death and regeneration.

Liquid Time #9, Natalia Cajiao

The fractal forms that we observe in nature follow principles of growth and proliferation, either at the macroscopic (cosmic) level or at the microscopic (atomic) level. These repetitive patterns exist in every millimeter of our body. If we observe with a microscope these forms are from the composition of a molecule, cells, tissues, organs, circulatory system, nervous system, bone system, muscular system, in the bronchi of the lungs, etc. Even the body as a whole is a fractal branch (consisting of head, trunk and limbs). Similarly, if we look closely at nature, these forms manifest themselves in the branches of the trees, in the cracks that form in the dry land and in the trajectory of the rays and seeing on a large scale, from an aerial view, these formations are also repeated in the flow of rivers or the great mountain ranges of the earth. Proving that we are the image and likeness of the creation of the cosmos and the forms of nature and their healing powers.

Here where we are, our mother nature is the one who represents the great mother, because she is the one who sustains us, feeds us, nourishes us, holds us, welcomes us, protects us, and has given us life. Thanks to our Planet Earth, we were born and will also die in her bosom. It is for this reason that art for me represents a means by which I make an offering to life that is sacred.

Human Sensitive Structure, Natalia Cajiao

What are you working on at the moment?

My current work is increasingly committed to this search for the sacred mystery beyond a religious vision of God.

Now I am working on a series entitled Sensitive Structure that is taking shape from a holistic perspective and its relationship with the human body and its vital organs. In this case, the relationship with the cardiovascular system and blood tissue, where the heart keeps the blood moving within our body in a unidirectional way, is a closed circuit, nothing is lost and everything is interconnected.

How are you staying inspired?

For me, art is a healing path of expression that allows me to get to know myself and give a personal vision of the world in which I live. Art helps me find answers to my questions about the human being and his environment. Therefore, I am interested in the role of the artist as an archetype of the god Hermes, messenger of the gods, merchant and communicator. Because I can express myself in freedom, opening routes of knowledge from aesthetic experience, and delight in the existence of what I am and what I belong from a conscious position. I am the daughter of the Earth, the water and the sun, one more seed of the great cosmic loom that unites us all.

I want to represent through art the spiritual expression of our existence. For me living in artistic creation mode is necessary for the individual and collective transformation. The beautiful works of art suggest visions and reflections of fundamental aspects of our human condition that deserve observation and attention in our current society. Therein lies the seduction of art, managing to divert the gaze to a specific point so that the viewer can feel and understand beyond the simple appearance.

Shop artwork by Natalia and other trailblazing artists at The Other Art Fair’s Online Studios.

Introducing The Other Art Fair Online Studios, a new online platform offering art lovers around the world access to over 800 Fair artists. The Online Studios will keep our community feeling inspired, engaged, and continue to spread joy through art.