Isabelle Forst

If you want to understand me, you need to understand my paintings. Each painting feels like it is a piece of me; they reflect a certain point in my life where I had to reflect on myself and my environment. The process of painting is what matters most to me as an artist. After finishing a painting I always feel like a new version of myself as I confront myself and my thoughts while I paint. The paintings are a snapshot of me and my environment and reflect who I was at a certain point in time; each painting reflects a different phase of my personal evolution. My paintings are like a primordial soup; they engulf all of me and my state of mind in a specific moment in time. This is why it is impossible for me to recreate an artwork as a painting is a representation of a specific version of me from the past. There is a subconscious aspect of confrontation within the paintings and I am confronting myself and the viewer with different versions of myself.

When I paint I might not be consciously aware of what I am trying to achieve or do. Through the process of painting I achieve clarity. Only after finishing a painting do I fully understand what and who I am. This is when figures, places and memories start to emerge from the painting. Art ...

Isabelle is studying Fine Art at the Royal College of Art in London and will complete her Graduate Diploma in 2026.