Isabel Monti
Isabel Monti is a multidisciplinary artist whose work aims to hold close late loved ones. She is currently going back and forth between Austin, Texas, and Berlin, Germany. She received her MFA from Alfred University’s Alfred Düsseldorf Painting MFA program. She received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin Madison. She has had two solo presentations of her work in Berlin, Magentaed Impressions (2025) at van Hofen and always in time (2023) at Tapir Gallery as a part of her artist in residence at TAKT Berlin. She has participated in multiple group shows nationally and internationally. Her work is featured in New American Painting MFA issue #165, Fall Exhibition Catalog Fall 2022 by I Like Your Work titled Finding A Memory, and in the article "Departure from Medium" by Til Will for the Flat Rate Contemporary 14 exhibition.
The energy that passed down photos and trinkets hold provide a palpable connection between the living and the dead. This results in an experience that is highly personal yet universally understood, as seen across many cultures. I highlight the magic these objects hold and their spiritual nature. In my work this often leads to an image that is fuzzy and hazy, oscillating between abstraction and the tangible. I use light bright washes of paint to emulate warmth next to dark opaque passes to create an illusion of the fine line between life and death. Overtime, the painting of photos and objects has produced a series of repeated motifs which has turned into a personal lexicon of symbols for life, death, and loved ones. By embedding these symbols into my paintings, I can summon loved ones and conjure a longing for them with also a hope for the divine beyond where they now reside. Together, these paintings create a visual narrative of the magnetic pull between the reality and the spirit realm.