Isabella
My body of work explores the comfort I derive from people, objects, memories, and places. It investigates my sentimental attachments and their soothing effect on me. Although my work is personal to me, it relates to a more general human emotion. I explored this in a variety of artistic mediums, including acrylic paint on canvas, watercolor and pen, pencil, light, 3D printing, and ceramics.
Recognising the importance of comfort to me began with observing my surroundings and acknowledging the emotions they produced. I was first inspired by the contrast I observed between nature and architecture in Paris, my hometown. I delved into the serenity nature provides in urban spaces. I represented this abstractly in my three-dimensional ceramic sculpture, Melting Flora. Following the serenity I found in exploring my city, I explored other sources of comfort. I studied the portrayal of personal relationships through the work of Lucian Freud, who once said, “The subject matter is autobiographical” (Tate). This inspired me to exclusively portray people I hold dear to me. I delved deeper into illustrating their effect on me. I chose to portray the security friends and family bring in daunting situations. Inspired by the idea of calm within a storm portrayed by Lucian Freud in Ib and Her Husband with a messy contrasting background surrounding an embracing couple, I used stark black backgrounds resembling voids in Friend, Ami and Warmth.
I realised the comforting effect people have on me is what sticks in my memory. This reminded me of how mementoes can trigger memories. My piece Comfort Objects mimics how our memories often become foggy. The collaged mementoes in the piece are sharp, but the painted memories associated with them fade in the background. This led me to study Impressionist artists such as Camille Pissaro who convey the essence of people and places, much like how our memory holds onto things. Inspired by Pissarro’s portrayal of Paris’s glow at night in his The Boulevard Montmartre; Effet de Nuit, I began to apply painting techniques such as impasto, layering and broken colours in my piece Golden. Through depicting the glow of Paris I realised the cosy warm feeling light provides in art and began to use it as a symbol of the value of security throughout my body of work.
Following my focus on illustrating the comforting glow of light in painting, I wanted to create a more immersive representation of the warmth. Inspired by lantern festivals and sunsets, I created Radiance, an LED Perspex light display with the same view from my childhood bedroom window depicted in Glow and Golden. Additionally, in my two light pieces and Melting Flora, I incorporated gold leaf as a symbol of value, adding to my audience's understanding of the importance I assign to Paris and nature.
The pieces are placed in the order in which I discovered the sources and effects of comfort on me, allowing my audience to follow the same journey and relate more deeply. My process begins with superficial sources of comfort and evolves into a deeper representation of the importance of memories, emphasising that memories of people and places are what create our connections to them. My exploration is displayed in a U-shaped space in the gallery with three available walls. My pieces are placed to be followed in a spiral, starting with my black and white pieces and leading toward my warmer yellow and gold pieces.
Through my different pieces, my intention is for the audience not just to understand my versions of comfort but also to contemplate the value of their own. Comfort is a feeling that people search for in their lives in different ways. It also looks different for each person. By portraying my own, I want to trigger the audience to remember and cherish their sources of comfort.
Melting Flora (December 2023)
Ceramic, gold leaf, acrylic paint
13×20×17 cm
This piece explores the beauty I find in contrasting architecture and nature in my hometown, Paris. The importance of nature is expressed by a large cascading flower that engulfs a sharp geometrical base, representing an architectural structure. Inspired by Beate Khun’s delicate white and gold ceramics of feathers, I added gold leaf to the flower to emphasise its value and comfort to me. Exploring the importance I attributed to nature led me to pursue comfort from where else I derive it.
Warmth (May 2024)
Pencil on paper
40 x 50 cm
This piece is a continuation of my exploration into comfort. This realist pencil drawing portrays the warmth I receive from the people closest to me - my parents. I was inspired by portraits by Chuck Close, notably his focus on the subject's eyes, arguably the most recognisable feature of a person. The drawing aims to capture the reassuring gaze of a parent; I used stippling and stumping pencil techniques to bring life to their gazes.
Glow (October 2024)
Acrylic paint on canvas
140 x 92 cm
This piece is the start of my exploration into how my environment, rather than people or objects, brings me comfort. Glow transmits the warmth I associate with my childhood bedroom. Inspired by Impressionism, I wanted to capture the essence of this feeling. The layers of coloured washes reinforce the dreamlike setting, resembling how my home is in my memory. The warm yellow and orange tones contrast with the cool tones of the building facing my window, amplifying this warm, comforting feeling.
Golden (November 2024)
Acrylic paint on canvas
70 x 45 cm
This piece explores light’s importance in environments I find comforting. The warm colour palette expresses the warmth of the golden hour bathing the building facing my bedroom window in light. Inspired by Camille Pissarro’s Impressionist painting techniques, such as impasto, I allowed the focus to be the golden light by capturing only the essence of the building with exaggerated brushstrokes and exaggerated lights and darks.
Treasure (March 2025)
Vintage chest from 1940s, 3D printing, battery lights
40 x 25 x 27 cm
This piece expresses the value of Paris as my home, showcasing its warmth through the golden lights shining through from the miniature city that Paris itself inspires. The gold chest alludes to a childhood staple, treasure chests, implying the value of its contents. Inspired by Paul Trogers's The Glory of Heaven, the city is all white, alluding to his depiction of heaven in white fluffy clouds. This symbolism further emphasises the warmth and comfort I feel towards Paris.
