Art on a Postcard International Women’s Day Auction - Curated by Vittoria Beltrame

About 

Isabella’s art practice is a ritual. Everything from preparing the materials, to the use of colour and scale, to a piece being reworked or left alone, to the use of her body…is part of this ritual. She uses ritual as a way of inducing and processing states of transformation and uncertainty, through material and bodily gestures of disintegration, embodiment, and enduring stillness. In this way, the work is process-oriented and of the body. Her work draws a lot of inspiration from concepts and symbols associated with the occult: death, loss, fear, emptiness, fire, sexual energy, divination, the void, blackholes, trance-like states such as sleep and meditation, mythos, astrological archetypes, play, and the unconscious mind. A lot of these are realities, but the occult “storifies” and philosophises them, and turns them into concepts and ritualistic practices. Over the years Isabella has amassed a vast cosmology of diverse occult research and experiences that her practice draws from and adds to. What the subject of this library of research and all these lived experiences boil down to, essentially, is the inescapable collective experience of being alive and dying; to be alive and in a state of constant death and rebirth, and to be surrounded by a sense of mystery, the unknown. 

Education 

Brown University (BA), Chelsea College of Arts (GDFA) 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

‘There, Yet’ group show, Downstairs at The Department Store Brixton, London, UK (July 7th - 10th, 2022) Pop-up group show, Standpoint Gallery, London, UK (January 14th, 2023) ‘Intuition Goes Before You’ group show, 13 Soho Square, London, UK (August 2023) ‘ONE Akaretler’ group show, Bilgili Holding and Shopigo Art, Akaretler, Istanbul, Turkey (September 2023) Art on a Postcard Winter Auction, Gathering Gallery, London, UK (November 2023) Chelsea College of Arts Graduate Diploma degree show 1, London, UK (December 2023) Chelsea College of Arts Graduate Diploma degree show 2, The Triangle, London, UK (January 2024) 

Gallery Representation 

Stay Tuned Projects 

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork  

The “colour black” is the unifying thread in Isabella’s work. She sees the use of colour in her art as transcending the purely aesthetic, often serving as a conduit for deeper symbolic exploration. The colour black takes on a profound significance, acting as a portal to realms of ritualistic expression. Black, traditionally seen as the absence of colour or the amalgamation of all colours, becomes a potent symbol in this context. At the forefront of black's symbolic repertoire is its representation of the void or infinite potentiality. Isabella’s work leverages the starkness of black to evoke a sense of emptiness pregnant with creative possibilities, inviting viewers to contemplate the boundless potential within the unmanifested. In this way, black becomes a threshold, a canvas awaiting the emergence of form and meaning. Isabella uses multiple different shades, textures, and gestures of blacks, as well as dark browns and dark hues of other colours, to create a sense of subtle tonal variations and movement within the void. Some of her paintings are the result of her daily meditation sessions from which she emerges and tries to directly paint the moving blackness she sees when she closes her eyes in that state of disciplined presence and concentration. Isabella finds blackness – much like the dead of the night – to be fascinating. A refuge. Something very close to “truth.” 

You must not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any works. In doing so, you endanger our relationships with artists, and directly jeopardise the charitable work we do.