Art in the Arthouse’s exhibit, ISABELLA KELLY-RAMIREZ: WHO IS SHE, has moved to NoHo! Explore the bold, dynamic works of Kelly-Ramirez on display until the end of June. All of the art is for sale and a portion of the proceeds benefits the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.
About the Exhibit
Isabella Kelly-Ramirez creates paintings and collages that introduce a host of fascinating females. Modern-day saints and superheroes, champions of the avant-garde, and fashionable figures to be reckoned with; these are icons of a new mythology from the imagination of the artist. Her arresting collages are playful acts of defiance. Kelly-Ramirez coopts images from fashion and art magazines, repurposing them to create surreal urban legends and ironic emblems of commercialism.
The works address the unattainable standards of beauty in fashion and life by reconstituting mainstream imagery into something quirkier and more humane. Kelly-Ramirez’s visual world continues in the striking paintings framed in soft sculpture. Bright, colorful portraits of humanoid figures appear in whimsical, unearthly settings. Somehow this creative, alternative place is more human, more generous, and more authentic than our curated “reality.”
Isabella Kelly-Ramirez lives and works in Los Angeles. Born in Santa Barbara, she has been involved in the art and theatre communities since she was a child. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008 and works primarily in painting, collage, soft sculpture, and assemblage—with a pop surrealist flair.
– Stacey Ravel Abarbanel, Curator