Artist to Watch: Daniel Correa Mejía Uses Vivid Colors to Conjure Surreal Landscapes and Water Scenes
The Colombian-born, Berlin-based talent’s latest artworks debut June 12 at P.P.O.W. for his second solo show with the New York gallery
For Colombian-born, Berlin-based artist Daniel Correa Mejía, the rough texture of the jute he paints on is as vital to his practice as color and brushstroke. “A lot of artists use the canvas just to paint, but they aren’t aware of its materiality or color,” says Mejía, whose latest artworks debut June 12 at P.P.O.W in his second solo show with the New York gallery.
For his surreal universe of dreamy landscapes, spiritual water scenes, and mystical animal amalgams, Mejía generally sticks to his signature shades of deep blues and vivid reds, a palette he established during a seminal art class he took at age 17. “I remember telling my teacher, ‘I just want a red painting,’” he says. “And then at the very end, I added some ultramarine lines, and it was electric. Blue and red are polarities. They need each other.”
For the first time, however, his new paintings incorporate shades of green, something he introduced based on a creative epiphany sparked by the journaling that lies at the heart of his process. “In my diaries, I sometimes write to a wise woman named Lucresia,” explains Mejía, who fills four notebooks a year with sketches, poetry, and exposition. “She told me, ‘You have to look for jade.’” After researching the stone, he was entranced by its intense hue.
Mejía believes we embody a multiplicity of voices; Lucresia manifests his anima. “My characters are mostly male, in homosexual love, but a lot of my work is thinking about gender,” he says. “The subject matter is about my life and the ways of relating to somebody.”
During Mejía’s childhood, drawing provided salvation. His family often relocated for his father’s work. The artist lived in São Paulo and Mexico City before coming to Berlin in 2010. “The city opened my eyes to these possibilities for artists, having parallel lives and having your studio time,” he says.
Today, he still finds inspiration in the German capital. “I try to connect with nature here. I go to the parks or the cemeteries, because they are very beautiful,” he muses. “There is one near my place, and they leave some parts wild. I observe animals and plants, and then there’s a click—oh, I need to paint that.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Summer Issue in the section “Artists to Watch.” Subscribe to the magazine.