Magdalena Paz Chile, b. 1990
“Gesture often says more than identity.” - Magdalena Paz
Magdalena Paz is a Chilean artist based in Berlin whose work explores gesture, presence, and the emotional dynamics of bodies in space. Working across painting, sculpture, and ceramics, Paz develops compositions through reduced forms, loose outlines, and restrained color palettes that emphasize posture, movement, and atmosphere over narrative specificity. Her paintings often balance flatness and depth, allowing figures, objects, and abstract shapes to exist in quiet tension within simplified environments.
Drawing plays a central role in Paz’s process, with brushwork that remains direct and sketch-like, revealing the gestures and layers that build each composition. Through scenes that reference leisure, domestic moments, and autobiographical fragments, Paz investigates themes of belonging, mental health, and physical awareness. The result is a body of work that moves fluidly between figuration and abstraction, creating contemplative spaces that invite reflection rather than resolution.
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Magdalena PazBlack Clouds in the Sky but not so Many like Before, 2022Acrylic on canvas65 x 61 in
165 x 155 cmView More Details -
Magdalena PazEmpty Landscape, 2021Acrylic and pastel on canvas, framed56 7/8 x 41 1/8 in
144.5 x 104.5 cmView More Details -
Magdalena PazGreatness Hiding, 2025Acrylic and pastel on canvas, framed65 3/4 x 48 3/8 in
167 x 123 cmView More Details -
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Magdalena PazUnwind, 2024Acrylic on canvas, diptych44 1/8 x 89 3/8 in
112 x 227 cmView More Details
Magdalena Paz (b. 1990, Santiago, Chile) is a Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, and ceramics. Raised in an internationally mobile environment, Paz spent her early life living in Nigeria, Argentina, Venezuela, Egypt, Russia, Mexico, Italy, the United States, and Chile before settling in Germany in 2013. This global upbringing continues to inform her work, shaping a perspective attuned to movement, cultural displacement, and the shifting dynamics of belonging. Her paintings frequently explore the relationship between bodies, environments, and emotional states, translating personal experience into simplified yet psychologically charged compositions.
Paz received her B.F.A. in 2012 following studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. During this period she also pursued sculpture and portraiture training at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. After relocating to Berlin, she continued her studies in Illustration at the Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule, further expanding her approach to drawing, narrative, and spatial composition.
Across her work, Paz develops compositions through reduced forms, gestural outlines, and restrained color palettes that emphasize emotional tone and spatial relationships. Figures appear simplified and often anonymous, allowing posture and movement to communicate psychological states rather than individual identity. Her paintings frequently juxtapose flat planes of color with subtle spatial depth, creating environments where bodies, abstract forms, and architectural elements interact with quiet intensity. The brushwork remains immediate and visible, preserving the physical gestures of painting and reinforcing the role of drawing as the foundation of her process.
Paz’s work often draws from scenes of leisure, domestic life, and autobiographical observation, exploring themes such as physical awareness, mental health, and the search for equilibrium within everyday experience. The paintings embrace awkwardness, imperfection, and intuition, producing a tension between figuration and abstraction that lends the work a conceptual and poetic quality. Through these compositions, Paz constructs contemplative visual spaces that prioritize reflection and open-ended inquiry, inviting viewers to engage with the subtle dynamics of human presence and emotional landscape.