FRENCH ARTIST ISABEL ROELANDTS FISCHER UNVEILS LATEST COLLECTION
When Isabel Roelandts Fischer is inspired by what she sees, the vision is impeccably captured on canvas. In her native France, it was flowers. In Africa, it was the intricately painted tribal masks. The subject of her works is very much what her travels show her.
In Asia, the inspiration that captured Isabel’s imagination was found within the myriad of expressions displayed in the faces of people she met. From the busy streets of Hanoi to the tranquil villages in Northern Nepal, there is not a face that she paints that is without a personal story for the artist.
“There is an abstract honesty that is displayed in the eyes, as if there were a thousand stories that could be told from looking at the faces of Asian people. From the eyes to the way they look at you, it is almost as if you can tell what they are thinking,” said Isabel.
Taking the portrait of a Vietnamese girl as an example, Isabel said the stare that was shown was immensely captivating. “This little girl was running down the street and stopped just a distance from me and my daughter and we took a picture of her. There was sadness in her eyes, but also a sense of pride and hardness.”
The portrait of the Vietnamese child certainly had a glimmer of sadness reflected in the intense stare while the pursed lips seem to hold back the desire to tell the litany of problems the girl faced.
Coupled with the expressions is the colours used in each artwork, which plays an equally important role in conveying the mood. For this collection, Isabel worked with lots of earthy colours that range from dull browns to bright reds.
“I love Malaysia and its mixed culture and I associate it with the Chinese red and bright orange. That’s why these colours are dominant in my canvases for this collection,” said Isabel, who combines several techniques in her paintings using oil and acrylic paints and inks.
Isabel’s travels have also fostered a love within her for letter characters of all the writings around the world. Such letters range from Chinese characters to temple scriptures that are written on long strips of paper, which Isabel incorporates into her paintings, more for her love of the image the words provide than for the meaning.
Isabel’s artworks will be on display at the ‘Windows To The Soul” exhibition from March 12 to 22 at the Bangsar Village II concourse area. There will be 17 art pieces on display and all for sale, out of which seven are new pieces unseen by the public. She has previously held two exhibitions in Malaysia, and one in Japan.
About the Artist
Isabel Roelandts Fischer was born in Zaire in 1961 and spent her childhood in Africa. When she was 10, she moved to France to further her studies.
It was in France that Isabel discovered a love for the arts. She received her art ‘baccalaureate’ in 1979 and went to Toulon to do Beaux Arts for two years.
To prepare for entry exams, Isabel went to ‘Ecole Superieure d’Art Moderne’ in Paris and finally finished her studies in ‘Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs de Paris’ in 1985.
Upon graduation, Isabel worked as a shop display decoration adviser for a chocolate factory before she got married and started her own business painting on furniture and ‘trompe l’oeil’ on walls. It was from her works here that she got used to painting life-sized subjects and working with large frames for her artworks later.
With her husband’s work requiring him to be stationed in various parts of the world like Africa and Japan and finally here in Malaysia, Isabel’s artworks are very much influenced by the different countries she lived in.
Among the visual influences that she has come to love and adopted in each of her paintings is the letter characters of all the writings around the world. Such letters range from Chinese characters to temple scriptures that are written on long strips of paper, which Isabel incorporates into her paintings, more for her love of the image the words provide than for the meaning.
During her different trips in Asia, she was impressed by the way people staring at her while she was taking photographs, without changing the expression of their eyes. There was no hint of shyness or reservation.
Those captured pictures formed the basis of her inspiration when she started painting in Malaysia.
