Isabelle Halmos is a 2021 graduate of Drawing and Painting from OCAD University, completing her Bachelor degree in Fine Arts in Toronto where she was born and raised. She is aiming to become a practicing visual artist, and eventually work as an art restorer and conservationist for private and public art collections.

Her attention to detail gained from years of photorealistic commissioned sketch work is apparent as she turns photographs and live subjects into drawings or paintings. Her current work focuses on issues of body and gender as well as sexual assault/harassment which she achieves through paintings and installation work. Her art is mostly figurative, combining her hyper-realism with abstract principles.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Isabelle Halmos is a portrait artist whose work focuses on the female experience, including serious issues such as sexual assault and harassment, yet she is able to celebrate women’s bodies through expressionistic colour and bold, playful compositions that tell a story. Captivated by bringing beautiful people and faces to life, she spends a considerable amount of time and detail on the nuances of facial features, then uses her love for abstraction and gestural, expressionistic lines to create bodies and backgrounds. By doing this, she is able to convey messages about the confusion women feel about the ownership of their own bodies.