Artist Statement
I work between dreaming and waking. For many years I have kept a Dream Archive where I record and write the images that appear at night. These images later return in my paintings.
My practice explores how dreams can function as a working method within painting. Through sustained attention to recurring symbolic images, I allow inner imagery to guide the development of space, colour, and visual structure in the studio. Rather than illustrating specific dreams, I am interested in how this material can shape atmosphere, intuition, and artistic decision-making.
Through painting and writing, I investigate how attention to the unconscious can help build internal structure and support a long-term creative practice.
Bio
Lina María Rincón is a Colombian-born painter based in London. Her work explores dreams, memory, and the symbolic life of interior spaces through painting and bilingual writing.
Her practice is rooted in what she calls “inner research,” drawing from a long-term dream archive where images from the night are recorded and later transformed into paintings. In her work, the house becomes a psychological space, a place where instinct, memory, and daily life intersect.
Born in Medellín, Rincón grew up during the years of violence associated with Pablo Escobar’s era. At the age of twenty-four she left Colombia to pursue painting in the United States, beginning a life shaped by migration and artistic formation across cultures.
She later studied in Oslo and San Francisco, completing a BA at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and an MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute on a full fellowship. She now lives and works in London and holds Norwegian citizenship.
Often working at a large scale, Rincón creates imagined interiors that function as portraits of inner life. Her ongoing bilingual manuscript Las panteras duermen de día develops alongside her painting practice, where poems, dreams and paintings grow in dialogue.
Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private and public collections, including the Norwegian Prime Minister’s Office.
This feature-length documentary follows the early career of Colombian artist Lina María Rincón as she moves to the United States to pursue painting. Filmed over five years, it weaves together personal archives and studio footage, reflecting on her upbringing in Medellín during the Pablo Escobar era and how migration and memory shaped her identity as an artist living abroad.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Reflections, Christine X Gallery, Malta
2018 Gallery Hadeland Lights, Norway
2014 Gallery LNM, Oslo, Norway
2008 Mirage, Paintings and Installation, Arendal Kunstforeningen, Norway
2007 Escape from Land, Gallery Galtung Huser, Oslo, Norway
2005 Deep Red, Onsite Installation, El Poblado Public Space, Medellín, Colombia
2005 Ventanas, The Colombian Embassy, Oslo, Norway
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Wolf Gallery, London, UK
2014 Gallery LNM, Oslo, Norway
2013 Gallery 941 Geary, San Francisco, USA
2012 Gallery Naranjo y Velilla, Medellín, Colombia
2011 Colombian Young Artists, Gallery Naranjo y Velilla, Medellín
2010 A New Beginning, Gallery 941 Geary, San Francisco, USA
2008 Elemental Installation, Gallery Esoro, Jersey City, USA
2007 The Artemathician Paintings, Gallery 58, Jersey City, USA
2007 Collective Exhibition, LA Galería, Bogotá, Colombia
2007 Unge Norske Landskap, Gallery Galtung Huser, Oslo, Norway
2006 Kunstakademi Painters, Gallery A, Oslo, Norway
2006 The Destruction Show, Gallery Seilduken, Oslo, Norway
2006 Avgangs Utstilling Kunstakademi, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway
2005 Holiday Inn, Gallery Galuzin, Oslo, Norway
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2019 BOA Grant for Artist Development, Norway
2014 Innovation Norway, Lean Startup
2012 Utstillingsstøtte, Kunstnere i Etableringsfasen, Norsk Kulturråd
2011 Prosjektstøtte, Billedkunstnere Vederlagsfond
2010 Stipend, Billedkunstnere Vederlagsfond
2008–2010 MFA Fellowship, San Francisco Art Institute
2008 Prosjektstøtte, Norsk Kulturråd
2008 Exhibition Support, Esoro Gallery
2006 Nomination, Carnegie Art Award
2006 BKH Akademistudentstipend, Oslo
COLLECTIONS AND INSTALLATIONS
Office of the Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway
KPA Art Collection (Kunst på arbeidsplassen), Norway
Høyskolen Kristiania, Oslo
Standard, Oslo
Bestport Ventures, UK
DPME Real Estate, UK
Opera Software ASA, Oslo
Riverside Hotel, Norway (Permanent Installation, 2018)
Choice Hotel Kista, Sweden (Permanent Installation, 2017)
DESIGN RESIDENCIES AND COMMISSIONS
2019–2020 HAEG Architects, Norway & Sweden, Bespoke art installations
2018–2019 Hadeland Glassverk & Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik, Norway, Artist-in-Residence and Design Lead, five product designs and workshops
2011–2017 Design and Object Practice, Colombia & Norway, Founded two studios focused on handcrafted objects, spatial design and installations
2021–2024 Freelance Creative Direction, London, Concept development and experiential projects integrating art and brand environments
TEACHING AND ACADEMIC ROLES
2023 Mentor, University of the Arts London
2014 Adjunct Professor, Painting and Critique, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
2012 Guest Lecturer, El Torn Ceramic Hub, Barcelona
1999 Montessori Art Teacher, USA
EDUCATION
2008–2010 Master of Fine Arts (Full Fellowship), Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, USA
2003–2006 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Interdisciplinary Art and Design, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway
2004–2005 Foundation in Visual Arts, Einar Granum School of Fine Art, Oslo
1994–1997 Bachelor of Arts, Advertising and Design, Instituto de Artes, Medellín, Colombia.