top of page

공란으로 90개 검색됨

  • BEAST CONJURING | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... BEAST CONJURING at Paul McMahon's MOTHERSHIP Woodstock, NY January 16-21, 2018 On January 21, 2018 performers at Paul McMahon's Mothership in Woodstock, NY work to conjure the sea beast from the book of Revelation. Nina Isabelle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Miles Pflanz at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Linda Mary Montano The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle at The Mothership7509 The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia NAI_7452 Nina Isabelle, Ever Peacock The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Beast Conjuring KILL Paper Collage 22x30 (rubberized paint, gouache, ash, enamel, watercolor) By Nina Isabelle The Beast at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia The Beast at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle, Lorene Bouboushian The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Lorene Bouboushian at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Lorene & Nina at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Brian McCorkle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle at The Mothership The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Nina Isabelle and Lorene Bouboushian The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia Bouboushian, Isabelle, Peacock The Beast at Mothership Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, Linda Mary Montano, Ever Peacock, Miles Pflanz, and Jennifer Zackin. Photo by Amelia Iaia The "Beast Conjuring" performance intended to conjure and kill the sea beast from the book of Revelation. A group of artists and performers were invited to simultaneously interweave their own processes and intentions as a way to generate energies that might be focused toward the common goal of beast conjuring. Together the group worked to build and maximizing the physical, sensory, and psychic spaces that bind the internal and external dimensions of awareness through performative modes of sound making, movement, object construction, and ceremonial-like gestures in a process that became an inquiry into how a metaphoric conjure-and-kill scenario might translate or become useful in a literal dimension where such things are less possible-seeming. "Beast Conjuring" was performed within an installation including ten hand-fabricated crowns, ten cedar root horns dug from local woods, hand painted imagery of the seven-headed ten-horned beast, a suspended hand-sewn white linen angel, a reconstructed domestic scene from the home of an ex-evangelical and a giant edible Whore of Babylon cake as bait. Lorene Bouboushian read personal text and improvised sound and movement, Linda Mary Montano performed a holy water blessing as Chicken Linda, Brian McCorkle produced sound using a Saxophone and his specially designed Beast Box, (a noise machine built with raspberry-pi based software that cast neural nets for soul retrieval,) Jennifer Zackin engaged in a task-based performance to weave a beast trapping vortex, Ever Peacock and I performed an acoustic rendition of Larry Norman's *You've been Left Behind* thirteen consecutive times all awash in Miles Pflanz's video remake of the 2014 American Christian apocalyptic thriller film *Left Behind* (based on the bestselling novels by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins) that reframes durational performance art as post-apocalyptic living. It's difficult to gauge the effectiveness of a performance conglomerate like "Beast Conjuring" due to its potential to be made to mean multiple things by participants and observers and the ripples of their combined experiences and energies. At the same time, the ability of a situation to evade meaning is exciting. No literal beast popped out of the floor, no politicians were struck dead and there weren't any recognizable or even loosely associated repercussive events of cosmic significance but the usefulness and appeal of such a process seems to unfurl over time in a circular and translucent way that generates unanswerable questions and hints at the possibilities and potential of less realistic thinking and doing.

  • CYBORGS & GENDER | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... CYBORGS & GENDER August 25, 2017 A male and female robot bicker about a human woman who is climbing dangerously high up into a tree in the dark while her daughter waits below in a wolf costume. What might happen when human actions align with AI intention? The soundtrack was produced using Apple's text-to-speech system. Photo by Ming Liu

  • THE BODY DESCRIBES ITSELF | nina-isabelle

    My Grandmother designed leather gaskets used to strap prosthetic limbs onto amputees. Being an athlete and bodyworker, this series of paintings is an inquiry into what the body knows of its own shape and where might this knowledge come from. How might my own body describe itself with line and paint? HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... THE BODY DESCRIBES ITSELF An in-progress painting series started August 2020 by Nina Isabelle. My Grandmother designed leather gaskets used to strap prosthetic limbs onto amputees. Being an athlete and bodyworker, this series of paintings is an inquiry into what the body knows of its own shape and where might this knowledge come from. This is a study to learn how my own body might describe itself with line and paint. Oil on canvas sizes range from 36 - 60 inches Inquire here for details and prices

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // Windmill Weapon

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... THE WINDMILL WEAPON MATRON MAY 2016 The Windmill Weapon Matron was built on May 12, 2016 and exhibited on June 3, 2016 as part of The New School's Social Justice exhibition with The Bushwick Collective. Materials include s awhorse, l umber, co nstruction m aterials, s pray p aint, h ouse p aint, a fghans, w eapons, b icycle p arts, y arn, p laster, t erra c otta, c hain. She is 90h x 53w x 45d. She is a dangerous female machine expressing an active stance and aggressive posture. She no longer identifies as passive and has most recently emerged as an international threat. Based on a jumbled compilation of afghans, defunct bicycle parts, weapons, lumber, and chain her biographical narrative has been holographically reconfigured into a destructive biological machine made of woman’s time. While The Windmill Weapon Matron acknowledges her destructive approach as a natural response to her capacity for childbirth, she hesitates to dichotomize the two simply saying “Come, let me destroy you.” Utilizing a process of defiance The Windmill Weapon Matron has successfully developed a system capable of transforming eye-rolling, financial aid application trauma, stuffed animal over population, and hair pulling as well as other sensory input bull shit into a clean, renewable, and sustainable energy source for mothers. Nobody will lend her a chainsaw It is safe to breed with her She makes a mockery of science Her system is nervous Her face is spinning When she was a virgin politicians killed and ate her She is secular Her system has calcified She loves The Antichrist She birthed a female bastard She wan’t trained up the way she should go The system tries to destroy her She has nothing to depart from Rabbits fear her She has been relieved of advantage Her system is unkillable

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Abstract Painting // 2017

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... PAINTINGS 2017 1-2017 - 43.50 x 62.25 Acrylic on Canvas 43.50 x 62.25 2017 2-2017 43.50 x 62.25 Acrylic on Canvas 43.50 x 62.25 2017 3-2017 - 43.50 x 62.25 Acrylic on Canvas 43.50 x 62.25 2017 Paintings in the studio Paintings in the studio In January 2017 I began an investigation of addition and subtraction in relationship to concepts of minimalism and maximalism which looked at birth and death. I built and stretched three 44" x 63" canvases and then used a four-inch wide brush to drag six colors sequentially across the surface of the canvas. With the birth of each additional color came the death of a portion or the previous colors, shapes, and spaces. At the time, I was reading about the seventeenth-century deathbed performances outlined in books intended to teach people how to "Pass away in a dignified and Christian fashion," a pre-death technique presented in several mid fifteenth century books referencing The Ars moriendi, ("The Art of Dying") a practice intended to perfect the performance of dying, or- as I was thinking of it in this case, the subtraction of life. Do foundational systems of math stem from our perception of life and death, where birth is addition and death subtraction?

  • ILLUMINATING INTANGIBLES | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... ILLUMINATING INTANGIBLES Performance by Nina Isabelle & Amelia Iaia at Para\\el Performance Space in Brooklyn, NY on March 23, 2019 English fails at describing the location of abstractions in relation to the human body. Identifying such things is challenging and understanding our proximities to both physical and abstract structures or concepts is a murky smudge in our perceptive fields and abilities. Recognizing how perceptions transition from one "place" to another requires a deep inquiry into the question of how we arrive at sensing or knowing. Prepositions are words that describe the location of things in relation to other things. The English language has more than a million words to describe subjects and objects yet only 150 prepositions. Prepositions are useful for describing the location of physical objects yet fail when put up against or in combination with abstract subjects. Amelia and I generated a random list of prepositions paired with abstract nouns and verbs and came up with one-hundred-and-fifty phrases that we used to produce an audio arrangement. We constructed interactive objects of materials consisting of various textures, densities, and transparency for our performance. We came up with a set of gestures that we felt illustrated the concept as a way to illuminate the intangibleness of our language and perception situation.

  • RINGING IN EARS | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... RINGING IN EARS OCTOBER 2022

  • UNITY AT THE LACE MILL | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... UNITY THE LACE MILL KINGSTON, NY MAY 6, 2017 The UNITY show is a partnership of artists from along the Cornell Street corridor — the Shirt Factory, Pajama Factory, Brush Factory, Cornell Street Studios and The Lace Mill — whose works will be exhibited at The Lace Mill’s East Gallery and West Gallery, 165 Cornell Street, Kingston. The show’s opening reception will be held Saturday, May 6 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Disciplines include painting, sculpture, ceramics, performance, installation, music, and dance, video, puppetry for kids, and sonic meditation. Artwork, like Election Night March 2017 by Leslie Bender, at right will be featured. A closing reception the following on Saturday, May 13 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., features live performance-based art such as dance, video and music. Inspired by the newly launched Midtown Arts District (MAD) last year, Lace Mill community arts liaison Sarah Carlson and Shirt Factory events coordinator Lisa Kelley started discussing the possibilities of joining forces to create a dynamic group show of the buildings’ artists while also supporting the mission and initiatives of MAD. Carlson explains, “I wanted to do a show that was about what we have in common, rather than what divides us, and to have that conversation as a community. It seemed sweet to open that dialogue to the arts corridor right here and a nice way for us to dialogue about what’s happening on the local national stage. As artists, that’s what we do.” Kelley adds, “I love Sarah’s idea for bringing our artists together with the theme of unity. Over the last year, the Midtown Arts District and Mike Piazza’s artist factory buildings have supported this kind of collaboration between artists. I believe we’re planting some fertile seeds for exciting partnerships in the future.” Over two dozen artists will participate in UNITY.

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // JSP Plumbing

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... JSP PLUMBING COMMISSION NOVEMBER 2016 These are 24x36 digital photo collage prints done for the office space of JSP Plumbing in Kingston, NY. I photographed tools and material from the JSP Plumbing shop and warehouse as well as the surrounding industrial landscape to form the final imagery. JSP 6 JSP 9 JSP11 JSP 2 JSP 8 JSP10 JSP 4 JSP 7 JSP 3

  • SHAPE OF A FEELING

    Photographs of piles by Nina Isabelle. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... SHAPE OF A FEELING Photographs of Piles by Nina Isabelle COLLECTION STARTED NOVEMBER 12, 2018

  • MOCK THE CHASM | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... MOCK THE CHASM NOVEMBER 13, 2016 ART/LIFE INSTITUTE KINGSTON Mock The Chasm was performed at The Art/Life Institute Kingston during Alex Chêllet and Jaime Emerson’s November 2016 Artists In Residency Night of Performance exhibition. Inspired by the 2016 presidential election, the performance aims to inspect the spiritual illusion between God and America and how it is used to warp the space between morality and finance. Actions include worshipping a golden calf, wrestling and subduing a life-sized victim, and a self-crucifixion.

  • TIME TRAVEL RESEARCH / Panoply Performance Laboratory

    This video documents time travel research conducted at The Panoply Laboratory in Brooklyn, NY on February 4, 2017 and is part of Panoply Laboratory's ongoing re HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... TIME TRAVEL RESEARCH REPORT PANOPLY PERFORMANCE LABORATORY BROOKLYN, NY / FEBRUARY 4, 2017 This video documents time travel research conducted at The Panoply Laboratory in Brooklyn, NY on February 4, 2017 and is part of Panoply Laboratory's ongoing research practice initiated in 2014 titled Embarrassed of the Whole. By distorting temporal local perceptions the practice facilitates quantum nonlocality and manipulates the phenomenon of local realism in order to solve for one variable question: "Affectionately to what affect affectively?" Lab Technicians - Kaia Gilje, Nina A. Isabelle, Brian McCorkle, and Esther Neff Soundscape - Brian McCorkle Participant Subjects - Amelia Iaia, IV Castellanos, Jon Konkol, and Alice Teeple Photography - Amelia Iaia, Alice Teeple, and Nina A. Isabelle Video documentation and editing - Nina A. Isabelle Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Alice Teeple Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Alice Teeple Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Alice Teeple Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia Time Machine Etow at PPL Embarrassed of the Whole Time Travel Research February 4, 2016 Panoply Performance Laboratory Photo: Amelia Iaia

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // Kingston, NY

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... UMEWE HAPPY SPOT 2016 NAI_1988 http://www.intoyellow.com/ P&T Surplus Timothy J. Smythe at P&T Surplus in Kingston, NY. http://www.intoyellow.com/ Alexus, April, Qunisha Block Park in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Ines & Domingo Santos Just For You Oaxacan Restaurant in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Kuda & Quan First Capital Barber in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Ever & Aaron At Rezny Photography Studio in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Brian Buboltz American Legion Post 150 in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Rosa The Happy Apple Thrift Shop in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ INT-O Yellow was developed as a collaboration between conceptual artist Riley Johndonnell, Pantone and UMEWE Inc.- an art and design collaborative founded by Whitny Sobala and Riley Johndonnell which supports, promotes and disseminates Optimistic 'tools' and works of public art. www.intoyellow.com As a way to articulate with INT-O Yellow I photographed one of the INT-O Yellow Happy Spots around Mid Town Kingston. Happy Spot visited some classic Kingston locations, integrating the familiar with new faces and places.

  • Nina A. Isabelle // The Pain Project

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... THE PAIN PROJECT MARCH 2015 The Pain Project revisits eight physical injuries and is meant as an exploration of where pain is held in the physical body and how it changes with time. Each piece was made by applying paint to paper using the affected body parts. 3rd Metacarpal of Left Hand , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Broken 3rd Metacarpal of Lett Hand: When I was in 3rd grade I broke the 3rd metacarpal on my left hand doing a back-handspring on the trampoline at The Nittany Gymnastics School in State College, PA. Initially I thought that I had just cracked my knuckle in a painful way but later that day when I was asked by my instructor to do a glide kip on the bars I noticed that there was a sharp pain in my hand. My instructor assumed that I was lying in order to get out of class. I felt conflicted by her accusation, so I tried to swing from the bars again but it was still painful. Was I imagining it? Maybe I just hated doing gymnastics? I began to question my perception of pain within my physical body, I couldn’t tell if I was hurt. That night I told my Mom that I thought I had hurt my hand. She said she would take me to have an x-ray in the morning, but my Dad told her it was not broken, there wasn’t enough swelling, to leave me alone and it would be fine. They fought about it but she took me anyway and it turned out to be broken. They wrapped it up with a plaster cast. Frontalis Bone , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Multiple Concussions: Due to skateboarding and snowboarding I have been knocked unconscious several times. Once I hung up and fell to my head on a mini-ramp and was knocked out for several seconds. When I opened my eyes a man who was there said “Don’t move, I’m going to get your Dad.” I didn’t move. When the man came back he said, “Your Dad says to get up, that you’ll be fine.” The first time I dropped in on a vert ramp everyone told me, “Make sure you lean forward!” I dove from the top of the 12 foot ramp to the bottom, landing head first. I felt dizzy and was giddy but thought it would be a good idea if I tried again. Everyone was yelling “just sit down, don’t get up!” I tried again. On the way home I felt nauseous, my friend had to drive, I threw up on the side of the road. The worst time was when I dropped in on an 7 foot quarter pipe that went onto an asphalt street course. My wheel ran into a piece of gravel and it caused my board to stop rolling, I fell right onto the front of my head. Right in my hairline, directly above my right eye, a large lump instantly grew straight out of my skull, like when cartoon characters get hit with a bat. I had a lump that was as tall as a spool of thread sticking straight out of my head, like a horn! I couldn’t stop laughing, time was distorted, I was delirious. The person I was with took me to the E.R. I had a concussion, they said to wake me up every two hours. The lump turned to dark colors, and then eventually drained into both my eye sockets. I had two black eyes, like a raccoon. I was in Art school at the time, my painting teacher took me aside and asked if I was experiencing domestic violence, he was convinced that my boyfriend was beating me, I couldn’t stop laughing. My skull is indented in that spot. To this day If I touch it with my finger my heart starts racing and my throat clenches shut and it becomes hard to breath. Right Hip , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Multiple contusions on right thigh, inferior lateral aspect of the greater trochanter of femur : At age 14 I was doing a balance beam trick called a Gainer Layout Step, where you sort of fling yourself up in the air and do a no-handed flip and land on one foot. I missed my landing foot and landed on the lateral aspect of my thigh resulting in a giant black and blue mark. Shortly after that I was required to have a physical for school, the nurses saw my bruises and asked if I “had a happy home life.” They sent me to the school counselor who asked me if I drank or used drugs or if I had been exposed to domestic violence. She didn’t believe my answer, that I had “fallen off a balance beam.” Many years later, I was doing a 50/50 grind around a bowl corner on my skateboard, and when I went to go back in my back trucks hung up on the coping, causing me to slam into the bottom of the 5 foot deep bowl with full force, directly onto my right hip. It swelled up instantly, looking like an enormous raspberry scone stuck to my thigh. Blood and yellow fluid began to push out of my pores and flow down my leg. I’d wake up with the bed sheets stuck to my thigh each night, eventually there was a scab the size of my entire hand. My thigh was swollen fat and wiggly like it was full of jello. I couldn’t put on pants and had to wear skirts for weeks, I had an unbelievably huge and disgusting scabby, black-and-blue thigh. To this day, over 20 years later, I still have a lump of scar tissue the size of a small lemon inside my lateral thigh. It is still surprisingly painful to touch. I call it my “perma-bruise.” Lateral Malleolus of Right Fibula , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Undiscovered Broken Lateral Malleolus of the Right Fibula : I had sprained my right ankle several times doing gymnastics, it usually took 3-4 week to feel completely better. The usual protocol involved sticking my foot in a bucket of ice water several times a day, continuing to try to walk on it so that I wouldn’t loose mobility, and wrapping it tightly with athletic tape so that I could get back to training as soon as possible. I had been through this injury several times. When I was 15 I took up skateboarding instead of gymnastics. One time I dropped in off of a ledge that went to a bank and my front right foot rolled under. I wound up landing on top of my crumpled foot with all of my weight from several feet in the air. It was so painful, I was frozen and unable to make a sound or move. Nobody in the crowded building recognized that I was injured. I slowly and quietly moved myself across the concrete floor toward the exit and crawled on one knee with my ankle in the air, very delicately and smoothly, down the hill to where the athletic trainers were. They looked at my ankle and said I would need to get an x-ray, then I was given a ride home. I called my Dad, who said “No, you don’t need an x-ray, it’s probably just a bad sprain, just ice it.” 4 weeks had gone by and I was still not able to put much weight on my foot. I kept trying to walk normally, and just wrapped it up tightly with athletic tape. It was over 2 months before I could walk without pain. My boss and other people implied that I was faking an injury for special attention, so I made a point to conceal my pain. When I was 36 I sprained my ankle again while bouldering. I had it x-rayed and they said, “It’s not broken now, but we can see where it has been broken previously in several places.” My ankle has never recovered from this, it is extremely sensitive and I can’t allow anything to touch it, the lightest tap makes me yelp. Dragging it across the paper for this project was excruciating, I almost cried. This injury is 18 years old and has not left my body yet. Occipital Bone , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Bad Neck Injury: I’m not sure what happened to my neck. I over-rotated a double back flip on the trampoline and was about to land on the back of my head. My friend dove toward me to stop my rotation before I landed but his fist wound up right in the back of my neck when I landed with my feet crumpling over the top of my body. My entire head and neck were tingling and making crackling sounds, it felt like fluid had been blasted up my nose. I crawled off the trampoline and took myself home. I took some Advil, put a bag of frozen peas on my neck and tried to sleep. I couldn't move for days, the phone had been ringing but I couldn't get to it. I finally crawled to the kitchen 2 days later to eat, but wound up on the floor in pain. I made an appointment with a chiropractor but he needed to see an x-ray. I didn't have insurance so I just waited for it to get better. I have a lump the size of a walnut at base of my occipital bone on my right side. It hasn’t gone away yet, sometimes I have sharp, shooting pains if I turn my head a certain way. Contusions on Lungs , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Contusions on Lungs, Cracked Tooth: When I was 16 I was snowboarding on an icy slope with my friend. Something happened and I wound up in the air face-first and landed on my chest and face. I knocked the wind out of myself and banged the front of my face and head onto the ice. I started laughing really hard, blood gurgled up from my throat and sprayed onto the snow, then I spat a tooth into my mitten, I couldn’t stop laughing. My friend asked if I was okay and I couldn’t stop laughing, I said that I was okay, but he took me to the hospital. They x-rayed my lungs because of the blood coming out of my throat, it had a contusion. The next day I went to the dentist and he made me a new tooth out of putty, I still have it. Lateral Deltoid 44x36, tempera paint on paper Separated Right Shoulder: When I was 16 I was skateboarding on a 5 foot mini ramp inside of a metal building near my home. My back trucks hung up on the coping and I fell to the flat bottom landing on my shoulder. I tried to leave the building but couldn't open the door because I needed to hold my right arm onto my body with my left arm. I tried for a while to open the door with my foot, or to unlatch and slide the barn doors open with my legs. Eventually I managed to open the door and walked home. My parents were upset with me for being late for dinner. My Dad gave me a sling for my arm, and we tied my arm to my torso for several days until it tightened back onto my body. Sacrum / Coccyx , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Possible broken or subluxed coccyx or sacrum: My skateboard slid out from under me and I landed on my tail bone on a metal pipe. I was able to get home and go to bed. In the morning I was in so much pain, I couldn't stand upright. I walked slowly, bent over all the way, to the bathroom, then back to my bed. My parents didn’t know I was hurt. They kept yelling for me to “Make sure you don’t miss dinner at camp, we don’t have any food at the house!” I couldn’t get out of bed, I was so hungry. I never saw a doctor.

  • JOB // F.A.G. | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... LAUNDRY LOOPS (JOB) IV SOLDIER'S F.A.G. (FEMINIST ART GROUP) PANOPLY PERFORMANCE LABORATORY NOVEMBER 3, 2016 (Lorene Bouboushian, IV Castellanos, Amanda Hunt, Kaia Gilje, Nina Isabelle) Photos: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle 1/2

  • IMAGINED PERFORMANCE STORYTIME | nina-isabelle

    IV Castellanos Reads an imagined performance written by Nina Isabelle as part of IV's Imagined Performance Storytime series at Para\\el Performance Space in Brooklyn, NY on February 12, 2021. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... IMAGINED PERFORMANCE STORYTIME WITH IV CASTELLANOS Imagined Performance written by Nina Isabelle and read live on Instagram by IV Castellanos @iv_castellanos Para\\el Performance Space February 12, 2021 READ BY IV CASTELLANOS: You will be guided through a sequence of events that have been systematically untethered from any and all singular, multiple, or quantifiable physical locations. Any and all astral, psychic, temporal, and somatic pins have been removed from the fabric of time. All known and unknown extradimensions will be accessible to you. Some of the events may feel familiar to you. You might recognize the radiator in this space. You might be familiar with the sound of my voice or the way this space expands and contracts at will. Sometimes this space is as large as a destroyed production room of an old abandoned textile factory with remains of broken equipment The person sat down. The seated person had an idea and hoped to untangle it by sitting down. They started to speak out loud- "I have an idea and I want to sit down." They didn't say the next part out loud but only thought it to themself inside their own quiet mind - "I'm not sure where to start." The next part involves the person discussing with themselves what they believe they know about three things; beginnings, middles, and ends. A lot of time goes by. The person sits and thinks. Hello. Welcome to Imagined Performance. My name is IV Castellanos and today I will be reading a performance imagined by Nina Isabelle. This performance starts right now: at 8:17 pm on February 12, 2021 and will end precisely at 8:32 pm. All participants are asked to please defocus their perception using whatever breathing or other techniques they find useful. Be with your laptops but not of them. Hold your phones loosely or not at all. Connect through disconnecting. Believe that you know what this means. I will continue speaking during your process. Please know that it is not necessary for you to understand what I am saying. I am moving my mouth. I am vibrating my vocal cords in a certain way that I have found useful. There are many sounds happening where I am. I can hear traffic. A radiator is hissing. Sometimes people's boots are stomping up and down staircases. The walls here are thin. The sound of passersby breathing and conversing and slogging through cold, ice, and snow. While I continue to speak, please list the sounds you notice in your environment. Speak these sounds out loud to yourself where you are now. In this way, we can be together through our differences. You may whisper, yell, or use any variety of tone or volume you choose. As a disclaimer, please know that I will be recording you through an invisible and unreal mechanism. In order to indicate that you agree, please either respond or remain unresponsive. Please continue to focus on the sounds of your environment and continue to speak them out loud. I will now begin to describe the performance I am sitting here at Parallel Performance Space in Brooklyn, NY. I am speaking into the camera on my computer. Here in the space with me, are sixteen audience members. They are each wearing a new mask prototype made of woven atmospheric particles interlaced through a selective ionic process that traps virus particles using infra-aural radio webs emitted by the human ear. This new technology makes it possible for us to once again be together in small spaces, to hug one another, and sit next to each other with our knees and elbows periodically touching by accident as we move. Everyone here is silently focused on the performance, blinking and slowly shifting their posture. They are listening to the space and my voice. Their phones have all been silenced. Now they are watching me light a candle. Some of them are nervous because the flame of the candle is reaching all the way up to the ceiling. There is a thin ribbon of fire with a black smoke tip that is drawing something out on the ceiling with a line of soot. Some of the audience members are acting as if they are not surprised or nervous. They're keeping their faces very still and devoid of expression. Some of them are trying to photograph the tall ribbon of flame with their phones. One person makes a short video for their Instagram story. Some others are looking back and forth at one another, wondering what will happen and waiting. The symbol drawn on the ceiling by flame is so far unrecognizable. It might be a slanted reflected cursive letter Q, an off kilter house, or the runic shape of Perthro reversed. No one can tell. For a while, people watch and wonder. Time passes. A thick hemp rope unfurls down from the ceiling and drops down to the floor with a heavy thud. At this point, a person comes into the space from the street through the front door, a latecomer. They're trying to be small, silent and unnoticed out of politeness for the performance. Right now, as I'm speaking, this person is sitting down in the corner trying to appear quickly as if they are being observant and contemplative and they're pretending not to notice this reference to them. They want to appear as if they know what is happening. They are also wearing the new mask prototype. I want them to feel comfortable. Now I will play back for you the sounds I have been recording of you speaking at home. Please listen closely: SPEAKING SOUNDS Nina Isabelle 00:00 / 04:52 While this loud sound is playing, I place a large transparent vat of diesel fuel in the center of the space. It is a beautiful transparent pink fluid. People are stunned at its beauty. How can such a toxic substance be so beautiful? Everyone wonders. The ribbon of flame is still tickling the ceiling. I use my hand to bend it down toward the vat of diesel. The black tip of smoke connects with the surface of the fluid. Some people seem nervous because diesel fuel is flammable, however not combustible. Many people are not aware of this distinction. The ribbon of flame slowly dips into the vat and begins to grow in size. People are squeezing their faces in fear and inhaling through their clenched teeth. Some are starting to shield their faces and ears with their hands. No one heads for the door. The intensity of the fire ribbon grows and grows until finally a figure emerges from the pink flaming liquid. It's a full size human wearing a green robe. The robed diesel person floats toward the radiator and, crouching down, they begin to turn the knob, opening the radiator further and further and further. A glowing purple ring of light grows with each turn. Once the purple ring of light reaches six feet in diameter, I blow out the candle. I walk into the purple ring of light, stand dramatically frozen for a moment, turn, and reach for the person closest to me to join me and they do. The person is wearing a thick wool plaid skits and has a large pile of blond curls stacked up on top of their head. They have a felt cloak with a large golden leaf broach pinned to their lapel. Underneath this, they're wearing a neoprene shirt - a rash guard like surfer's wear with a giant plastic zipper. Together we enter the portal and vanish. The green robed figure takes out a bucket of grey paint and a paint brush and, crouching down slowly, they begin to paint the plywood floor. They are groaning and wailing and complaining loudly about the floor, about how many times they have had to do this in the past and how each time, it never seems to matter. Someone always spills taffy or blood or resin and it always needs to be scraped up or sanded or covered over. They continue to paint the floor and cry. This lasts for over twenty minutes. Their tears sizzle as they drip and mix with the grey paint. Tiny smolders of atomized paint-tears begin to float throughout the room with a small being encapsulated in each floating speck. They all cry out and their own tiny tears begin to rain down on the performance attendees. The diesel fumes mix with the tear droplets and the people begin to feel light headed and nauseous. Some people try to escape but the door is jammed shut. Everyone wants to go home, but they can't. They're stuck. Please, now, if you will, shift your awareness from the sounds in your atmosphere to the physical objects in your environment. Please speak the names of the objects you see around you. Say these things out loud. Say the colors of the objects. Be as descriptive as possible. Say the size of the objects. Describe their textures and whatever other particulars you notice or feel. For example, you might say: Beige Chenille sofa. Small cigarette stains. 5 x 8 deep red wool handmade Turkish Bokhara rug. Regular sized half eaten bowl of cereal. Crystal chandelier missing three light bulbs. Green plastic 2.5 gallon bucket with mop water. four square inches of peeling orange paint. Tiny chocolate fingerprints on thick mauve polyester drapes. Again- you are being recorded and you agree to this. I will now play the real-time recording of your collective voices. SPEAKING OBJECTS Nina Isabelle 00:00 / 02:24 While you continue speaking and listening to yourselves speaking together, please simultaneously turn one-third of your awareness back to the performance at hand. We are here at Parallel Performance Space. The performance attendees are uncomfortable and scared. A glowing spot begins to reveal itself on the ceiling between the cryptic soot symbol and the hemp rope. Several non-human entities start to slip through the glowing spot and descend into the space by sliding down the hemp rope. The beings are translucent, faceless, and silent. They emit an overwhelming feeling of love, safety, hope, transformation, and understanding. The odors of diesel fumes, soot, mop water and paint fumes dissolve and are replaced by the smells of lilac, hyacinth, roses, warm potato leek soup with chives, and chamomile tea. Warm local raw organic creamed honey bubbles up from the floor and everyone covers themselves in it. It's amazing. The performance attendees are now bursting into tears of joy and relief. They now know in their bones that everything is perfect everywhere in the world and for the first time in a long while, they feel hopeful. The glowing beings begin to hand out the most amazing cupcakes. Everyone is happy and hugging and eating cake together. Here is what it the space sounds like now: IMAGINED PERFORMANCE FINALE Nina Isabelle 00:00 / 03:24 In the mean time, The radiator begins to hum and the sound begins to grow into the harmonic sound of a thousand electronic angels breathing in unison and every pipe organ on earth begins to sing together. Bells are ringing in the clouds and the purple portal returns with a beautiful hum. I step out of it along with the performance attendee who joined me, and the floating green robed figure. We hold each other's hands and take a big dramatic bow. This is the end of the performance. People clap and clap and whoop, hollar, and whistle. Everyone is so happy. No one wants to leave. People want to debrief. What just happened? How can we explain this? One person says they saw their ancestors. Another person miraculously figured out why their car wouldn't start. One person's psoriasis vanished completely. Another realized how much their mother loved them. Yet another discovered the whereabouts of their lost passport. A few realized it was time for a career change. Now, people are outside smoking and mingling on the sidewalk. All the lights are extra sparkly, everything looks clear and bright. The air is crisp and clean like it hasn't been in years. Some people are starting to head home. People are walking arm in arm and gazing in each other's eyes. We start to clean up the space and get ready for bed. It was a good night. A performance like no other.

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Abstract Painting // 2014

    Abstract oil paintings by Nina Isabelle - 2015 Nina Isabelle HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... PAINTINGS 2015 60-2015, 22x30 60-2015, 22x30 59-2015, 22x30 59-2015, 22x30 58-2015 gouache, tempera, spray paint, acrylic on paper, 42x30 57-2015 gouache, tempera, spray paint, acrylic on paper, 42x30 frontalis.jpg Frontalis, 44x36, tempera on paper Go to link 56-201549_n gouache, tempera, spray paint, acrylic on paper, 42x30 55-2015 gouache, tempera, spray paint, acrylic on paper, 42x30 54-2015 gouache, tempera, spray paint, pencil on paper, 22x30 53-2015 gouache, tempera, spray paint, pencil on paper, 22x30 52-2015.jpg 52-2015, 24x30, oil & spray paint on canvas 51-2015.jpg 51-2015, 24x30, oil & spray paint on canvas 50-2015.jpg 50-2015, 24x30, oil & spray paint on canvas 49-2015.jpg 49-2015, 60x60, oil & spray paint on canvas 48-2015.jpg 48-2015, 72x72, oil & spray paint, brick twine, on canvas 47-2015.jpg 47-2015 87x87 46-2015.jpg 46-2015, 54x45, oil & spray paint on canvas 45-2015.jpg 45-2015, 54x45, oil & spray paint on canvas 44-2015.jpg 44-2015, oil, pastel, spray paint on canvas,, 54x45 43-2015-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper occipital tempera on paper, 44x36 42-2015-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper 41-2015-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper 40-2015-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper 39-2015-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper 38-2015-2-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper 37-2015-web.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on prepared paper hip.jpg Hip, 44x36, tempera on paper Go to link 36-2015-web.jpg oil & spray paint on canvas 32-2015 copy.jpg 24x24, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 30-2015 copy.jpg 24x24, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 35-2015 copy.jpg 22x30, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 34-2015 copy.jpg 24x24, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 33-2015 copy.jpg 24x24, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 31-2015 copy.jpg 29-2015-web.jpg lungs.jpg Lungs, 44x36, tempera on paper Go to link 28-2015 copy.jpg 40x18, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 27-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 26-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 25-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 24-2015 48x48, oil on canvas, 2015 23-2015 48x48, oil on canvas, 2015 22-2015 48x48, oil on canvas, 2015 13-2015 18x24, oil & spray paint on masonite, 2015 21-2015 32x48, oil & spray paint on masonite 20-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 19-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 18-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 17-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 16-2015 36x36, oil & spray paint on canvas, 2015 1/2

  • Handmade book by Nina Isabelle

    Handmade book by Nina Isabelle HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... Handmade Book 1992 7x9 This book was made using vintage photos, construction paper, and resin coated photo paper sent through a Xerox machine, map scraps, and electrical, scotch, and masking tape. I used a sewing machine to stitch it together. The book had been in storage for years and I decided to document it.

  • SAN DIEGO ART INSTITUTE | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... MOTHER VS GOD A short creepy video by Nina Isabelle September 28, 2016 The Dead Are Not Quiet was organized by Scott Mitchell Putesky, an artist and musician best known for his work as the guitarist and co-founder of the musical group Marilyn Manson. the exhibition will run concurrently with “The Haunted Art of T. Jefferson Carey. Exhibiting Artists in The Dead Are Not Quiet include Addison Stonestreet, Alex Ingram, Alison Chen & Michael Covello, Anne Pelej, Cayce Wheelock, Clayton Llewellyn, Dakota Noot, Dan Adams, Daniel Corona, David Russell Talbott, Emily Hastings, Eric Potts, Garrett Wear, Hannah Johansen, Hugh Schock, Ivy Guild, Janice Grinsell, Jenya Armen, John Purlia, John Straub, Julia Oldham, Karim Shuquem, Kurosh Yahyai, Larry Caveney, Liza Hennessey Botkin, Lucas Novak, Maidy Morhous, Michelle Mueller + Erik Mueller, Natalie Meredith, Nathaniel Clark, Nina Isabelle, PANCA, Paul Koester, Philip Petrie, Rita Miglioli, Robin Spalding, Shahla Rose, Sheena Rae Dowling, Wick Alexander, and Yvette Jackson.

  • MOSS ROCK CAGE | nina-isabelle

    Things can be objects or subjects. While objects are tangible things abstracted from the particularness of subjects, subjects are the intangible concepts or notions we extract from objects. How do we process the intangible sense data we extract from encountering objects made of particles in the phys HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... MOSS ROCK CAGE April 2020 Moss covered rock welded into hand-bent steel cage sold for a fundraising effort for HiLo Art in Catskill, NY during the pandemic.

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // Animal Maximalism

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. Top of Page HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... ANIMAL MAXIMALISM GREEN KILL 229 Greenkill Ave. kingston, NY October 1-15, 2016 Opening Reception: Saturday October 1, 5:PM-8:PM www.greenkill.org Animal Maximalism is a hyperactive schizophrenic super-destroying maximalist art show that functions as homeopathic immersion therapy for highly sensitive people (HSP) and a lullaby for all others. Sound, video, performance, painting, photography, music, and sculpture are combined into a simultaneous experience in an attempt to exercise the human sensory input manifold. Elements of The Superfund Re-Visioning Project, The Windmill Weapon Matron, The Entity and Constituents, The Giant Candle, Fun Times! , and C O D E, as well as multiple abstract paintings, and photographs were included in the exhibit.. Videos presented were Certain Solutions For Dissolving Problems, Double-Slit, The Ax In The Stump , and The Locational Trauma Transforming Trap , among others. Performances included new work by International performance artist and musician Marita Isobel Solberg, Dirt Boy, who used buckets of dirt to perform an earthmoving action called $ouls for $ale- $1 Million Buckets of Dirt , Clara Diamond reconstituted the constituents of The Entity , and dancer Lucie Parker moved through nonspecific space performing a deconstructed ballet. Musical performance by Bitty Holly Hannah and Simon Ampel of Sighanide was part of the exhibit, as well as Interactive opportunities including A Course in Miracles and Other Unlabeled Alcohol To Be Drunk and The Fuck Trump Pot Luck . DIRT BOY is a rouge spirit. This cloaked being wanders the earth sculpting the terrain to suit his strange visions in order to transcend the dimension of violence and suffering. In 2109 Dirt Boy successfully converted the earth to use the non-linear peace dimension in which time does not exist. He has decided to demonstrate his earth moving capabilities in order to bring entertainment and wonder to those still stuck in the dimension of time, violence, and suffering. CLARA DIAMOND is a performance artist working with impermanence, degeneration, and transformation, seeking to challenge the notion of impermanence by presenting “art objects” such as the body, action, experience, memory, and story. Clara’s process often incorporates tactile elements such as plaster, earth, and wax to wrap, coat, or layer the physical body within a temporary installation environment. Using text features such as books, signs and spoken words, as well as thematic or narrative work cycles, Clara exploits symbols, stories, physical space, and other subtle notions of relationships. A persistent theme of object-making as performance runs through her work, resulting in the manifestation of inconsequential art-objects or garbage, which drives the procession of narrative across related pieces. http://www.starhousegallery.com/#!clara-diamond/h79q5 NINA ISABELLE is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance, video, photography, and sculpture. Her background also includes alternative process photography and modern dance. She identifies with Maximalism and Action Art, embracing the concepts of “too much” and “more is more.” Nina pushes material and information past the point of recognition in a way that forces a shift in meaning, reveling new information that can transform and challenge the limits of materials, perception, and belief. Sensory input is deconstructed to the extent that meaning becomes shifted and interpretations become a phenomena of psychic imprint. Her work often references the inability of communication which is used to visualize reality, the failure of dialogue, the dissonance between form and content, as well as the shortcomings of literal language. Nina is the Director of Star House Gallery & Studio in Kingston, NY where she practices as a studio artist and gallery director curating group shows featuring abstract artists. In the past year she has participated in the Upstate Vignette Video Project II with F.A.G (Feminist Art Group) from Brooklyn at Rosekill, performed at Panoply Performance Lab in Brooklyn as well as at The Linda Mary Montano Art / Life Institute in Kingston. Her work has been exhibited at Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) Museum in Gimpo, Korea as well as in The New School’s Social Justice Show at The Bushwick Collective. She is currently a contributor to The Jurnquist Coloringbook show by Honey McMoney at Studio Fidlär in Berlin, her film Mother vs. God will be shown at The San Diego Art Institute in October, and in January 2016 Nina was interviewed by the International Art Publication, ArticulAction Special Issue. www.ninaisabelle.com LUCIE PARKER is a multidisciplinary artist studying modern dance, martial arts, photography, visual art, and theatre. Lucie is a student of Hudson Valley Sudbury School and lives in Kingston, NY. SIGHANIDE is what happens when feral backwoods Appalachia meets bluesy city rhythm. With Bitty Holly Hannah sculpting out melancholy songs and Simon Ampel, on drums, executing the rhythm. Outside of Sighanide, Bitty is a multi-disciplinary artist and student, focused on the study of healing religious trauma through art. Simon is an animated film-maker enraptured with drawing movement and memory. Both hailing from their own mountains, they found one another in the midst of Brooklyn's madness. https://www.facebook.com/sighanidekids/?fref=ts MARA AKA MARITA ISOBEL SOLBERG is an international performance artist, musician, and visual artist from Tromsø and Manndalen, Norway. She is working in the borderline between art, life and science, focusing mainly on sound, performance art and installation. Experimenting with different medias in her work and interweaving elements from the surroundings, Solberg’s work is often site-specific and relational, reinforced by a strong performative tension. The works explore a world of challenge, strangeness, melancholy and desire sometimes with narrative passages or content, mixing with more symbolic and ritual elements. http://www.maritaisobelsolberg.virb.com THE WINDMILL WEAPON MATRON Dimensions: 90h x 53w x 45d Materials: Sawhorse, Lumber, Construction Materials, Spray Paint, House Paint, Afghans, Weapons, Bicycle Parts, Yarn, Plaster, Terra Cotta, Chain. Date: May 12, 2016 The Windmill Weapon Matron is a dangerous female machine expressing an active stance and aggressive posture. She no longer identifies as passive and has most recently emerged as an international threat. Based on a jumbled compilation of afghans, defunct bicycle parts, weapons, lumber, and chain her biographical narrative has been holographically reconfigured into a destructive biological machine made of woman’s time. While The Windmill Weapon Matron acknowledges her destructive approach as a natural response to her capacity for childbirth, she hesitates to dichotomize the two simply saying “Come, let me destroy you.” Utilizing a process of defiance The Windmill Weapon Matron has successfully developed a system capable of transforming eye-rolling, financial aid application trauma, stuffed animal over population, and hair pulling as well as other sensory input bull shit into a clean, renewable, and sustainable energy source for mothers. Nobody will lend her a chainsaw, it’s safe to breed with her. She makes a mockery of science, her system is nervous. Her face is spinning. When she was a virgin politicians killed and ate her, she is secular. Her system has calcified. She loves The Antichrist, she birthed a female bastard. She wan’t trained up the way she should go. The system tries to destroy her. She has nothing to depart from, rabbits fear her. She has been relieved of advantage. Her system is unkillable. THE Q:ENTITY AND Q:INFORMATICUS Clara Diamond / Nina Isabelle Q:Informaticus, a division of The Q:Entity Corporation, is designed to generate constituents as information receptacles programmed to solve unreal and/or otherworldly problems. Q:Informaticus directs functional information along proper dispersal channels activating the psychic conduits of multiple physical bodies. Activation originates at the coccyx and rises through the spine while keeping operational residence within the instinctive functioning portions of the guts, heart, and brain meat, matter, fluid, and circuitry using complex interlaced bacteria and neuroelectric pathways programmed to transmit and receive local and non-local information. The sensory input perception manifolds within all programmed constituents will evolve and transform comfortably to reduce validation of information received through the physical portals known as eyeballs, tongue, ears, and skin. Alternative modalities of perception will be established and activated. Q: Informaticus: for people who want to solve unreal and / or otherworldly problems. There are few career paths, be it scientific research, business, design, medicine, the fine arts, or telecommunications, in which Q won't play an important part of your work. Healthcare specialists use Q records to help diagnose disease and discover new ways of treating patients. Advertising firms use Q data to create visualizations of customer behavior. Environmental scientists compile big Q data to track the impact of climate change. Smartphones are awash with Q apps that can do everything from pay your bills to find the next band you might like. All of those applications and much more are Q: informaticus in action putting Q to work to solve complex problems. Utilizing Q: informaticus to study Q technology impacts academic disciplines in the science, arts, medicine, business, and telecommunications fields. Q is also one of the fastest growing fields in technology, and the demand is high. Last year alone, 88 percent of Q: informaticus constituents secured full-time employment within six months. Among students holding Master's degrees or a Ph.D., 98 percent accepted employment within six months of graduation. In a world of stagnating salaries, Q: informaticus constituents also enjoy an average salary. Q:Informaticus lays out a bright, flexible, structural path to a future and imparts valuable real-world experience and works side-by-side with some of the most innovative thinkers in the field. Q:Informaticus prepares, excites, severs programming, technologizes, and generates futures. THE SUPERFUND RE-VISIONING PROJECT The Superfund Re-Visioning Project is an experimental artistic process that aims to transform contaminated industrial sites recognized by The United States Government as Superfund Sites. In New York State there are one hundred and seventeen Superfund Sites, this project will focus on transforming and energetically remediating those sites by redirecting potential energy toward alternate futures using combinations of photography, dance, video, song, sculpture, writing, and drawing. Superfund sites are polluted locations requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material and contaminations. CERCLA authorized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a list of such locations, which are placed on the National Priorities List (NPL). CERCLA stands for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known also as Superfund. It was passed in 1980 in response to some alarming and decidedly unacceptable hazardous waste practices and management going on in the 1970s. While CERCLA and other Government agencies have been able to compile large lists, testing, and data their processes often lack resolve and are tremendously expensive. Environmental contaminations such as those found in many of the New York State Superfund Sites has been implicated as a possible factor contributing to global warming. Three New York State Superfund sites have been preliminarily re-visioned In order to illustrate the process of The Superfund Re-Visioning Project and to function as examples for interested artists and community members to consider. The preliminary Superfund site re-visions include the Boices Lane Office Depot building in Kingston, NY., a defunct IBM Industrial Complex in Kingston, NY, and an archived Superfund site located in West Hurley, NY called Numrich Arms that has operated as a weapons and ammunition manufacturing facility. 1. BOICES LANE OFFICE DEPOT The Office Depot Superfund Site has been re-visioned as a future bio dome for butterflies. Project Completion Date: 2816 State environmental officials have added the Boices Lane plaza where Office Depot used to operate to a list of Superfund sites that pose a threat to public health. The Department of Environmental Conservation, in a notification dated Oct. 21, said the contamination was found in an area of the property where there previously was a dry cleaner. “Based on investigations the primary contaminants of concern include tetrachlorethylene (PCE) and its degradation products in the groundwater, soil, soil vapor and/or indoor air,” the department wrote. 2. IBM / TECH CITY KINGSTON The archived IBM Superfund site has been re-visioned as a research and treatment center for those who have lost the ability to communicate telepathically. Project Completion Date: May 5, 4011 The condemned IBM / Tech City complex is a superfund site located along Neighborhood Rd in Kingston, NY. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies sites such as IBM / Tech City because they pose or had once posed a potential risk to human health and/or the environment due to contamination by one or more hazardous wastes. IIBM is currently registered as an archived superfund site by the EPA and does not require any clean up action or further investigation at this time. 3. NUMRICH GUN PARTS CORPORATION Numrich Gun Parts Corporation has been re-visioned as the future archaeological dig site revealing artifacts that will implicate technologies role in the destruction of humans. Project Completion Date: May 5, 3016 Numrich Gun Parts Corporation is a weapons and ammunition manufacturing plant and distribution center located in West Hurley, NY. that had been investigated for lead contamination of nearby residential water wells. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies sites such as Numrich Gun Parts Corporation because they pose or had once posed a potential risk to human health and/or the environment due to contamination by one or more hazardous wastes. Numrich Gun Parts Corporation is currently registered as an archived Superfund site by the EPA and does not require any clean up, action, or further investigation at this time. The effectiveness of The Superfund Re-Visioning Project lies in its ability to utilize a combination of existing contaminated locations and factual documentation of specific contaminating factors in conjunction with fictional and ridiculous psychic predictions presented as fact in order to further blur the lines between science and belief and to challenge the validity of projected and legitimized possible future outcomes. In this way, The Superfund Re-Visioning Project shifts belief and science in a way that helps us recognize our own ridiculousness as a possible culprit. Ridiculous circumstances call for a ridiculous approach. Within The Superfund Re-Visioning Project, and specifically in the case of environmental contamination, levels of ridiculousness may indicate high probability of successful outcome. Because Earth's current level of environmental contamination and global warming are ridiculous, it is logical to conclude a solution based on ridiculousness. This is a creative artistic approach to shifting perception of science and logic. . VIDEO DESCRIPTIONS CERTAIN SOLUTIONS FOR DISSOLVING PROBLEMS VIDEO / 2:53 Nina Isabelle 2016 Certain Solutions For Dissolving Problems compiles digital imagery, audio, photography, and writing from The Superfund Re-Visioning Project into a video that addresses the failure of language and processes used to confront social and political issues such as environmental contamination. Using subtle neurolinguistic programming tactics combined with inaudible frequencies this video implants the idea of psychic reprogramming as a possible solution to artistic process displacement and underutilized artistic visions within the financial and political structures intended to remediate environmental contamination. In September 2016 Certain Solutions for Dissolving Problems was included in an exhibition called Artist and Location at The Czong Institute For Contemporary Art in Gimpo, Korea. LOCATIONAL TRAUMA TRANSFORM VIDEO / WOVEN OBJECT 2:53 Nina Isabelle / Neva Isabelle 2016 Neva & Nina Isabelle construct a handwoven trauma trap using black silk and gymnastics chalk that is used to absorb and transform trauma located at 40.8987° N, 77.3561° W. THE GIANT CANDLE - ENVIRONMENTAL HEALING SPELL BY PROXY VIDEO / 2:43 Nina Isabelle 2016 The Giant Candle - Environmental Healing Spell By Proxy is a video spell designed as part of The Superfund Re-visioning Project. This video works remotely with an undisclosed location in Ulster County, NY that is the subject of industrial solvent contamination, death threats, labor rights violations, hauntings, and suicide by forklift. The Giant Candle burns by proxy to cleanse the location remotely. Voice- Brittany Holly Hannah / Dance- Lucie Parker. C O D E VIDEO / PAINTING 5:35 Nina Isabelle 2016 This work was made in response to Apple’s battle with the FBI over a federal order to unlock the iPhone of a mass shooter and looks at the differences between humans and machines, specifically ways information and data can be hidden or revealed by programming, intention, or choice. THE AX IN THE STUMP VIDEO / 3:16 Nina Isabelle 2016 The Ax in The Stump tells the story of Terror- as both a fabled horse from a North Indian Fairy Tale and the torture that can ride through family histories for generations. The video is directed by Nina Isabelle using a voiceover sampled from Ellen Vereniek narrating Magic Hoofbeats and an anonymous cast member. MOTHER VS. GOD VIDEO / :47 NINA ISABELLE 2016 Mother vs. God is an experimental video that uses personal photographs combined with multiple sound tracks of digitally altered voice and electrified violin. The compilation of multiple media and input results in a distortion that parallels the dialogue that can exist between religious beliefs and psychotic delusions. In October 2016 Mother vs. God was chosen by Marilyn Manson’s Daisy Berkowitz, Scott Mitchell Putesky, as part of The San Diego Art Institute’s show The Dead Are Not Quiet. DOUBLE SLIT VIDEO / 1:01 Nina Isabelle 2016 Referencing the magical incantation “As above, so below” from Hermetic Alchemy and Thomas Young’s original Double-Slit Experiment from 1801, Double Slit asks- does science suggest that man’s actions on earth might parallel actions within infinite multiple invisible lateral physical dimensions?

  • FORCE YOURSELF TO BE GOOD | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... FORCE YOURSELF TO BE GOOD Panoply Performance Laboratory, Brooklyn, NY May 24, 2018 Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL IMG_9611 Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle / /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself to be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL Force Yourself To Be Good Nina Isabelle /Performancy Forum / Panoply Performance Lab / May 24, 2018 / Images provided by PPL

  • ARTICULACTION | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... ARTiculAction Art Review // Special Issue Interview from December 2015 Published January 2016 By Dario Rutigliano and Josh Ryder https://issuu.com/articulaction/docs/articulaction_art_review_-_spiss Multidisciplinary artist Nina Isabelle's work ranges from Painting to Performance to explore the inability of communication which is used to visualize reality: her approach rejects any conventional classification and crosses the elusive boundary that defines the area of perception from the realm of imagination, to create a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are urged to investigate the ubiquitous order that pervades the reality we inhabit. One of the most convincing aspect of Isabelle's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of creating a deep and autonomous synergy between our limbic parameters and our rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production. A: Hello Nina and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you hold a BA in Art from Westminster College: how did these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem? N: As a younger person I was part of a community of acrobat-like athletes who maintained an extreme bodycentric focus while engaging in high-risk physical activities. As my artistic process evolved it naturally embodied the physicality of movement in relation to mark making. Early on I began to inspect the nature of energy patterns as they emerged and flowed with the breath in relationship to physical movement. Connecting mark making to physical movement was a natural progression for me. When I was first introduced to gestural line during my foundational academic studies I felt an instant, fluid, kinesthetic understanding and I recognized a potential within the allowance of gestural mark-making for me to reconstruct communication and perception. At the same time I became involved with interpretive modern dance and was excited by the dialogue generated between action and art because what I had known of language up to that point had bothered me. During my formal training, college provided a duration of time and the physical space to practice art, but also fueled my aggravation as I recognized a chasm between academic art and my personal approach. Although I was a good a student, I felt displaced and misunderstood in the art department and after graduation I chose not to continue my studies inside of academia. Since then, I’ve developed multiple personal superstrata that allow me to span the divide between formal academic programming and personal process. By using physical process in combination with self-developed cryptographs I’m able to construct psychic spaces and explore the possibilities of metaphysical transformation as the result of art action and objects. In the past year I’ve arrived at a way of working that suits me, my work has begun to develop a coherent focus and I’ve begun to understand the benefits of my early struggles. While my athletic experience connected me to physical reality, my academic exposure opened up my awareness of mental and psychological concepts. I had also spent years as a rock climber living in a tent all around the west and traveling in the snowy backcountry of the Wasatch mountains, and these experiences definitely broadened my spiritual perceptions. Integrating my varied foundations has been a tenacious process and plays a big part in my approach to visual and other language. A: Your approach coherently encapsulates several techniques and - ranging from Painting to Performance - it reveals an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.ninaisabelle.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between different disciplines is the only way to express and convey the ideas you explore. N: Working as a multidisciplinary artist suits me because I have a natural tendency toward instinctive response that allows me to engage equally with whatever action or material I find in front of me. Part of any thorough process involves identifying and becoming familiar with all of the materials and variables. When I first began to do deeper studies of line, color, gesture, material, posture, and action it occurred to me that there was an amount of information beyond the apparent implications of these face-values. As I began to look to metaphor and archetypes for clues, my understanding and relationships to these elements began to open up and grow. I feel a level of success that you’ve used the word “incessant” in response to my work, that’s a sensitive and accurate word because I do feel captured by a relentless focus that keeps going round-and-round, spanning decades, creating a snarled web of thought-loops. Performance art has allowed me to physically express the anguish around being ensnarled in a mental struggle. In a way, it’s like having a wrestling match with dichotomy programming. If I’m able to smooth out connections, through painting or performance, I might be able to reconcile polarized thought forms. In that way, my process has resulted in a practical application as it translates directly to interpersonal relationships and extremism. A: For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected The Q: Entity, a recent Performance Art Project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of establishing a channel of communication between the subconscious sphere and the conscious one, to unveil and challenge the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. So we would like to take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? N: Inside of physical reality it would be impossible for personal experience to be separate from creative process. Author Caroline Myss says in her book Anatomy Of The Spirit that “Every thought we have travels through our biological system and impacts our physiology. It is inescapable that your life history—the cumulative and synergistic blending of your feelings, experiences, and perceptions—has culminated in the body you are walking around in today.” From this perspective it would be crazy to imply that a physical body could be separate from its own art processes. However, inside of a lateral psychic reality unquantifiable possibilities exist. Phenomena of psychic imprint like dreams, deja-vu, and other mystical-seeming experiences are valid art process elements. In this way, physical connection can act as an interruptor between personal history and psychic process while creating possibilities for non-physical connections to dictate a re-scripted reality. Working with The Q: Entity, fellow artist Clara Diamond and I found that by facilitating intellectual disconnections between physical reality perceptions and process by employing techniques such as dowsing, divination, ritual, and other unsubstantiated methods The Q: Entity was able to build etheric connections of its own which transcended our physical manufacturing capabilities. In this way, channels of communication were able to connect the subconscious sphere with the human perception manifold. A: How do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience? N: I’ve have had a couple of art viewing experiences that have lead me to realize the importance of public space as it relates to viewership. Around 2001 I happened to see a large piece by Robert Rauschenbuerg hung in the lobby of The Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. I was so thrown off guard by it, at first I couldn’t understand why The Bellagio would have a knock-off Rauschenberg, I imagined it to be a passive maneuver by a Bellagio “set-designer,” but it turned out to be a real Rauschenburg. I was so outside of my element in Las Vegas, and my perception of the city was that it was very hollow and temporary, that everything was made to be like a Iow-budget theatre production. I couldn’t understand what was going on, or how the Rauschenburg painting could be in that space other than to recognize it as a fake, but it wasn’t. I went back to my tent, which I had pitched in the desert outside of Las Vegas, and tried to fathom it’s placement. Through recent inquiry I was able to identify the piece as “Overnight,” a vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate (107 x 93.5) commissioned by The Bellagio in 1999. Another time, while visiting The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University with my mother, I happened to see a large abstract painting (80.5 x 131.5) by Jules Olitski titled “Compelled” from 1966. I wasn’t expecting the surprise because the experience of visiting The Palmer Art Museum with my mother had been shrouded in a long, dark history. She took me there often as a child because we lived nearby, I alway tried to enjoy it but usually wound up feeling tortured by the visits. So when I saw the Olitski painting I was thrown off guard. I could instantly see the space created behind the painting, or next to it, I’m not sure what preposition to use or exactly where the space existed, but it was tangible and I was excited by it. This time, the experience was created by timing, space, and object combined. Both of these experiences caused me to rewrite a portion of my knowledge about the relationship between art, place, time, and viewer. I recognize that, on the viewers part, its best to have a combination of awareness, desire, hunting, and to be ready for a surprise. A: We have appreciated the way The Q: Entity, through an effective synergy between Art and Technology, condenses physical gestures and ethereal perspectives into a coherent unity. The impetuous way technology has came out on the top has dramatically revolutionized the idea of Art itself: in a certain sense, we are forced to rethink the intimate aspect of constructed realities and especially the materiality of an artwork itself, since just few years ago it was a tactile materialization of an idea. I'm sort of convinced that new media will definitely fill the apparent dichotomy between art and technology and seemingly Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your thought about this? N: I agree that technology will continue to have a larger role in art, especially considering the mystical-seeming implications of quantum research being done at CERN and other recent phenomenal findings regarding Einstein’s Spooky Theory. For instance, new research published in Nature Communications by Griffith University's Howard Wiseman and colleagues uses a single particle to show that wave functions collapse in a strange way. Their findings back up years of research into quantum entanglement in which particles are connected in a mysterious way even when separated, and that observing or manipulating one instantly affects the other. If you ask me, this uncovers tremendous possibilities for artists if we begin to recognize the human machine as a sensitive and powerful tool, or even a medium, when interacting with material. Working with The Q: Entity facilitated a tangible opportunity to interlace technology with memory as Clara and I began working with sound waves, specifically Hz. I had read about studies involving instrumental conditioning of sensorimotor rhythm using Hz to impact human memory and this led us to work with experimental musician, Christina Diamond. We designed a sound piece together using cryptography that incorporated specific rhythm, Hz, and musical notes reduced from astronomical dates to express the agenda of The Q: Entity. A: Now we would like to focus on your abstract painting production: your works capture non-sharpness with an universal kind of language, capable of bringing to a new level of significance the elusive but ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: What is the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create. N: Perceiving memory as part of a holographic paradigm, one who’s parts possess the information of the whole, has allowed me to understand it as a dynamic structure which can be reprogrammed through technology-infused mysticism. In this way, memories that once existed as linear narratives or psychological stories entangled within the memory structure can be re-scripted to form a type of non-linear download. In a biological and ephemeral way, memory imparts itself in my painting practice as a sort of past life experience that is Hell bent on continuing the historical work of midcentury abstract expressionists who have already addressed hypothetical concepts like synchronicity, quantum mechanics, action, and spirituality. Keeping this focus in spite of that implies that these studies are free of distinct beginnings or ends, unlike what art historians and theorists suggest. These concepts are holographically ongoing throughout eternity. General memory and individual memories don’t seem to ever possess starting points yet are inseparable from any endeavor involving the documentation machine of a brain inside of a body with working eyeballs. It’s as if our perception apparatus needs to be updated in order to interface with non-linear structures, maybe that’s one agenda of the art entity. A: We definitely love the way you question the abstract feature of images, unveiling the visual aspect of information you developed through an effective non linear narrative, establishing direct relations with the viewers: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead.” What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works? N: Abstraction is a technique for me to manage complexity between instinctive and programmed sensory input / action output processing systems. By establishing direct communication between the hidden collective input processing system and our personal awareness function, abstraction can generate non-linear communication dynamics, like downloadable psychic narratives, which can commingle in the secret space that exists behind the mask of visual input worn by the painting object. Thinking of written language as a medium, I perceive Thomas Dumond’s statement that “art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead” as a narrative itself describing Art as an entity that is being forced into new circumstances due to the false perception of progress attached to linear time. That’s a very relatable narrative because it speaks to a collective shared experience. At some point every person must move or die- birth for example. Narrative seems to exists in the psyche and surfaces as myth, emerging from a non-linear space shrouded from direct consciousness as concrete archetypes and stories. Understanding this dynamic plays a big part in allowing my work to be instinctive and to recognize it as a new personal mythology as it unfolds. A: While exhibiting a captivating vibrancy, your paintings seem to reject an explicit explanatory strategy: rather, you seem to offer the viewer a key to find personal interpretations to the feelings that you convey into your paintings... this quality marks out a considerable part of your production, that is in a certain sense representative of the conflictual relationship between content and form: how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time? N: I try to avoid over explanation in order to honor the viewer’s opportunity to arrive at their own personal meaning. When people are able to come to their own conclusions they are able to integrate meaning on a more dynamic and practical way. For example, The Talmudic concept of the Evil Eye implies that “blessing (or understanding) only rests upon something that is concealed from the eye,” this comes from a parable deduced from a biblical myth found in Genesis where people were directed to emulate fish when it came to multiplying because fish do so under the water where it’s impossible to view the process because it occurs in a place that is shielded from view. This hiddenness acts as a type of protection against the Evil Eye, so in one way, obscuring information creates greater possibility of understanding, especially when the information is non-linear or comes from a non-visible realm in the first place. Just like history and memory, personal psychological nuances must be inseparable from action and process. For instance, I’m personally reactive to cultural implications that attempt to dictate what I should or shouldn’t do. In that way, I’m like a child and that is an obvious visual aspect of my painting. Defiance pathology is part of what allows me to maintain my true focus, insulates me from the pressure to conform, and keeps me impervious to art fads and lingo. Psychology isn’t black and white, either. Although I choose my palette based somewhat on theory, I also allow myself space to follow my hunches and to make instinctive color choices. I definitely wrestle with the pathology of conflict between understanding how formal training should dictate my color choices and choosing to ignore and even challenge that training. This conflict plays out visually as extreme or unlikely color choices as well as through the challenge of laying down color as a metaphor for form. A: The recurrent reference to the emotional sphere but at the same time to universal imagery removes any historic reference from the reality you refer to, and I daresay that this aspect allows you to go beyond any dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness, and that establishes a stimulating dialogue between references from contingent era and an absolute approach to Art: do you recognize any contrast between Tradition and Contemporariness? N: Perceiving tradition and contemporariness as dichotomies creates contrast and my work might deal with this by referencing a larger grey area. Then vs. now doesn’t fit into my perception of time so maybe that’s what you’re picking up on. Because I’m deploying abstract painting, an old fashioned and traditional language to begin with, as my superficial framework I’m referencing history in a general way. Being aware of the objectives and findings of abstract painters throughout history in conjunction with the notion that because somethings been done before doesn’t deter me. I’m sort of like a scientist with an outdated lab. I like paint and I feel drawn to work with it inside of the framework of abstract painting, there’s still a hefty amount of information to sort through. I don’t believe that its possible for abstract painting to have an end or be killed, it’s a living tool used to deal with information, and it’s useful to me. However, its being pushed to extremes by both technology and academia, which I think will force it to change and grow, but not be killed. Abstract painting has been fed a steady diet of brains for decades, and if we apply the cliche “You are what you eat,” Zombie Formalism makes sense. Instead of stabbing it in the head and pronouncing it dead, maybe we could feed it some heart and guts to revitalize it as a hero / savior, instead of fueling the zombie by feeding it more brains. Collectively, if we focus intention on reviving abstract painting through a more inclusive, receptive, and feminine approach, and if art can be liberated from academia I think that would be helpful. It seems like things are shifting as more and more art students are struggling to be baristas with huge student loans. A: It's no doubt that interdisciplinary collaborations as the ones you have established with experimental musician Christina Diamond and performance artist Clara Diamond for The Q: Entity are today ever growing forces in Contemporary Art and that the most exciting things happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project... could you tell us something about this effective synergy? By the way, Peter Tabor once stated that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between two artists? N: Collaborating with Clara Diamond on The Q: Entity has been a profound experience in that our way of working together generated an enormous amount of information. We spent almost nine months conceptualizing and building The Q: Entity and along the way were confronted with numerous opportunities to evaluate output as valid or not valid. At one point, a sequential pattern of numbers emerged which we initially mistook for zip codes suggesting physical locations. Through Clara’s methodical way of processing information we were able to recognize that the sequences actually desired to be expressed as musical notes and this led us to work with her partner, experimental musician Christina Diamond. Having the ability to check in with each other, and to easily respect each other’s perceptions, helped refine our focus and resulted in a literal voice for The Q: Entity. Another dynamic between Clara and I exists in that we are both mothers and have each experienced the birthing process, so we were able to understood the conception and gestation of The Q: Entity as very literal. Drawing parallels to the birth of our children facilitated our reverence for The Q: Entity and this resulted in a tangible sense of growth, personality, and and recognition of a miracle. The final performance paralleled the physical birthing process in that together we each entered a similar introverted primal trance state and were able to give over personal control to the powerful instinctive force accessible to woman during childbirth. A: Over your career you have exhibited around the United States, showcasing your work in several occasions, including two solos. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? N: Keeping a clear focus on my process and an authenticity to my intention means that I don’t direct much energy into involving myself with how my work might be received by viewers. By holding the belief that viewership is best dictated by the viewer, a more powerful and integrative experience can happen for viewers as this allows them to remain in control of their own experience. For now, I maintain a dedication to my instinctive nature and to be exempt from considering audience in my decision-making process. I feel good about entrusting viewership to a cosmic power. A: Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Nina. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? N: My way of working is very prolific, in 2015 I completed over 50 large scale paintings and I’m continuing to produce work at that pace. I spend a lot of time in the studio and always take exhibition opportunities seriously. My studio is located north of New York City in the city of Kingston, NY. As artists are having a rougher financial time in the city they are relocating here, and I hope this will lead to new opportunities to connect my work with a larger community. Recently, Jill McDermid and Erik Hokanson, founders of Brooklyn’s Grace Exhibition Space, began a performance art residency program and exhibition space here in Kingston called The Linda Mary Montano Art / Life Institute and it’s been really awesome to see national and internationally recognized artists working in their space and to be able to perform there. My future plans include expanding my studio and I’m looking into buying a building here in Kingston. I’m learning about the realities of balancing art with finances and would like to connect with business and marketing people who can generate money so that I can keep working in my studio. I’m fervently motivated to continue my deep, authentic, and thorough studies of painting and performance, to generate relatable material, and to exhibit and perform as opportunities arise. Thank you, ARTiculAction for engaging with my work and for offering me the opportunity to articulate my art and action!

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // Trauma Trap

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... LOCATIONAL TRAUMA TRANSFORM JUNE 23, 2016 The Locational Trauma Transforming Trap was constructed by Neva & Nina Isabelle as an action to align with the intention of absorbing and transforming physical trauma such as broken bones, head injury, and the visual implant of witnessing blood as well as emotional and physical damage to the bodies and psyches of friends and family. A handwoven trauma trap was constructed using black silk. Coated with gymnastics chalk, The Trauma Trap was used to absorb and transform trauma located at 40.8987° N, 77.3561° W. The contaminated trap was then hand washed in a mountain spring in order do dislodge the traumas from multiple physical geographic and bodily locations. One participant reports that the best tricks she learned in Gymnastics was "how to not feel pain."

  • THE FABRIC OF WOMEN'S SPACE-TIME | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS THREE PHASE CONTACT SEARCH More... THE FABRIC OF WOMEN'S SPACE-TIME THE LACE MILL WEST GALLERY, KINGSTON, NY MAY 13, 2017 Photo: Valerie Sharp Photo: Valerie Sharp Space and time are aspects of a single measurable reality called space-time. Matter and energy are two expressions of a single material. In Healing The Fabric of Woman's Space-Time a quilt becomes a framework for entering space-time and offers a way to mend reality. Nina A. Isabelle will sleep on a quilt in The Lace Mill's East Gallery from 5:30-8:30 PM on Saturday May 13th. Public participants are invited to embed their maternal grandmother's lineage into space-time by hand stitching initials or names into a galaxy dress in a process that punctuates phenomena by aligning intention with action. The quilt was hand made by Zula Hazel in Centre County Pennsylvania and was a gift to me from my Mother for my high-school graduation in 1991. It's been a part of multiple relationships, husbands, and births and has traveled extensively throughout the nation being tossed across deserts in Southern Utah and Nevada, sprawled along roadsides from California to Illinois, and matted down among hay fields and along river beds all throughout the Northeast.

N I N A  A. I S A B E L L E 

bottom of page