Journal | Annie Rios

Annie Rios in her studio working on an abstract painting.

A Young Artist's Journey Through Three Cities

To understand how I arrived at this moment, you need to know the path that brought me here. A journey through Panama, Madrid, and Paris.

Artwork from the Madrid solo exhibition.

From Panama to Paris: How Geography Shaped My Artistic Voice

My journey as an abstract artist isn't a linear story—it's a series of thresholds, each one demanding I reinvent how I see light, color, and human connection.

$Detail of 'Composition of a Refraction'.$

The Refraction Collection: Breaking Light Into Meaning

Refraction became my framework for understanding everything I wanted to say about being present in the world. Explore the three phases of the collection.

Close-up of a vibrant abstract painting showing the chromatic flattening technique.

Chromatic Flattening: The Technique Behind the Vision

It emerged gradually through years of experimentation, through hundreds of failures, through paying obsessive attention to what happens when saturated acrylics interact.

Close-up of a vibrant abstract painting with intersecting lines and colors.

From Pianist to Visual Artist: How Music Shaped My Visual Language

Piano shaped how I think visually in ways I'm still discovering. Music taught me that abstract systems could communicate profound emotional content.

Artwork on grass with paint tubes, showing the raw materials of color.

Color Relationships: The Language Beneath the Form

In my work, color is content. It's what the painting is actually communicating. It's a relationship between physics, psychology, and emotion.

A vibrant and complex abstract painting representing emotional architecture.

The Role of Emotions in Abstract Expressionism

Abstract expressionism is one of the most emotionally rigorous art forms available. It demands that emotion, stripped of narrative, somehow communicate authentically.

A complex abstract painting representing the intellectual atmosphere of Paris.

Exploring Abstract Art Through Paris: How the City Became My Teacher

Paris has a way of making you reconsider everything you thought you knew. I moved here thinking I understood abstraction. I realized I'd barely begun.

Artwork being created outdoors on the grass, surrounded by paint tubes.

Creating Art During the Pandemic: When the World Stopped, My Practice Started

The pandemic gave me something artists rarely have: uninterrupted studio time with zero external pressure. It turns out, that uncertainty was generative.

Close-up of a vibrant abstract painting with intersecting lines and colors, representing emotion.

Show Me a Feeling: Translating Emotion Into Abstract Form

How do you make visible what exists only internally? This series emerged from asking: What if I stripped away everything except the feeling?

Artwork in progress outdoors, with paint tubes and a palette.

My Process: Fluid Pouring & Layering

A detailed walkthrough of my creative process, from conceptual development and structural mapping to the final metallic integrations.

The Point of Incidence artwork, showing a concentration of energy and color.

Transcending the Everyday: How Refraction Became My Artistic Language

Refraction became a way to explore what happens in those in-between spaces. The moments before understanding arrives. The threshold where the external world meets internal experience.

Abstract painting detail with geometric shapes and color fields.

The Composition of a Refraction, Explained

A deep dive into the compositional structure of the Refraction series, exploring geometry, light, and the balance between intention and the organic nature of materials.

Sunlight casting shadows over a paint-splattered studio floor and canvas.

Inside My Studio: Materials, Process, and Space

My studio is built around the idea of creating enough silence for color to speak. It becomes not a workplace, but a laboratory of perception.