Isabella Gallese

Out of Body

I have always loved creating art, but in my last few years of art-making, I have noticed myself growing as an artist in new ways. As I entered university, I experimented with new mediums and new processes, receive feedback from professors and peers, and started learning how to articulate my voice as an artist so I could make the kind of work I wanted to make. Reoccurring themes that appear in my artwork include people, the human figure, nature, mental health, anxiety, and more. I love to highlight and depict both the mundane and extraordinary aspects of humanity and the human condition. These themes have been consistent in my work for quite some time, and seeking an education in the arts has allowed me to progress my understanding and knowledge of how exactly I can convey them to an audience. Though a huge factor that plays into my art-making is making art for myself and making art that I enjoy creating, I still hope to achieve a sense of relatability within the content I am depicting. I would love for people to look at my art and take away something from it, whether it was the exact meaning I intended or not. In terms of technical process, some of my main mediums include oil paint, pen, and colored pencil, though I also love working with graphite pencils, watercolor, gouache, and oil pastels. Experimenting with different mediums has always been important to me, especially because sometimes it can bring me out of a major art block.

This piece, Out of Body, was experimental in terms of both the content and the medium used. It is done completely in micron pen. Though I have used micron pen before, I had never done a self-portrait with them, and not something as meticulously detailed as this piece. I wanted to create a believable environment that felt lived in, hence including the small details such as the lights hanging on the wall in the background and the stuffed animal sitting on my bed. This drawing was inspired by feelings of frustration and self-consciousness but was created and brought to life as a defiance to those feelings. Being that the piece is a self-portrait, making it felt like refusing to let that self-consciousness fester. The work acknowledges the relationship between technology and how we perceive our bodies, and additionally reflects on the feeling of disconnect you sometimes experience when you look at yourself in the mirror for too long and start to pick apart everything you see.