Painter Isabel Bolivar portrays stylized cityscapes and scenes in stripped architectural forms and warm colors. Her talent for creating depth, texture and atmosphere comes from intimate knowledge of urban and natural spaces (she was raised in New York by South American parents), as well as extensive training and numerous prizes. Forgoing the anxieties of de Chirico's uninhabited cities, Bolivar's streets buzz with roiling energy and blurs left by flowing movements of citizens.
Beyond the afterglow of zipping cars and hurried masses, Bolivar's paintings imbue landscapes with a life of their own. Buildings assume emotional traits, figuring as comic, ancient, idealistic, quaint or austere characters to surrounding plays of color and movement. Looking in on her scenes of inviting colors and softened shapes helps us see our world anew, with villages and cities suddenly made over into inviting pools of sunlight. Through this experiential rediscovery of space, Bolivar suggests renewed appreciation for our surroundings, a greater investment in the colorful rituals of our lived environment.
I would like to develop a series of works within the figurative style as well as artwork that is representative of the near abstraction and pure abstract styles. Artists that have deeply influenced me include Richard Diebenkorn, who is known as the premiere individualist in twentieth-century art. I have discovered that I share certain sensibilities with this particular artist: I understand and appreciate the color-field tradition as well as Diebenkorn's choice of vibrant coloration and development of dramatic compositions. I also admire works from such diverse artists as Jeff Koons, Fernando Botero and Thomas McKnight.
