Isabella Bruno Ysbel - La preghiera

Before embracing the freedom of abstraction, my research stopped at reinterpreting the forms of the female body. This series titled “The Gesture of the Soul” tells of women caught in intense poses, where each sometimes exaggerated posture is not just a shape, but an inner vibration. I wanted to represent the truth of a moment: a look, a muscle tension, an exposed fragility, pure volume and emotion.

Painting these figures, whose forms twist and compress, with limbs that are too large for the space that contains them, was a way to objectify a sense of emotional confinement: the marked lines and the textural brushstrokes are scars of a tense dialogue with matter. The mood that guided me expresses a constant tension between being trapped in the flesh and the desire to melt into the air.

This work is part of the series I named “The Gesture of the Soul.” It depicts a female figure gathered in an almost fetal, abandoned position, in a deep and silent inner dialogue. The pose folding back onto itself suggests a prayer understood as introspection, a search for spiritual strength deep within one’s being. The hand, placed low and open, is ready to receive or to let go, with an act of humility and offering.

The decisive, bold brushstrokes define the contours and give the body a near-sculptural solidity. Cold colors like blue for the body evoke the sacred, the calm, and transcendence, probing an intense and spiritual moment; thick, expressive colors like deep red and violet create a dense atmosphere in which the figure is immersed, symbolizing passion and the pain of life.

A circular dynamism permeates the painting: everything revolves around the center, drawing the viewer’s eye toward the emotional core of the huddled figure.

Gulliver’s Travels
Mixed media
cm. 90x100

Artist Isabella Bruno Ysbel, Italian.
Official website www.ysbel.it
Work for sale
Title: The Prayer, belonging to the series “The Gesture of the Soul”
Mixed media on canvas (acrylic colors, enamel)
Dimensions cm. 90x100
Signature on the front right and on the back of the canvas.
Comes with a certificate of authenticity.
Excellent condition; the canvas was painted by me in 2011.
The work will be shipped in its original condition, i.e., on a wooden frame.
The work is ready to be hung (edges painted, does not necessarily require a frame).

From December 14, 2022, my work “Great Expectations” becomes part of the permanent collection of the Civic Library
of the Municipality of Moncalieri “A. Arduino”
- MuBi-Museum in Library Public Art Project. Location: Canon Hall

Solo exhibitions:
“Showing”
From December 8 to December 24, 2013 - Turin - MILLEVOLTI Bookstore
“Unintentional Bodies in Dense Souls”
From April 2 to 11, 2009 - Turin - Confraternity of Artists

“Fun... Aperiparty”
February 12, 2009 - Turin – Spazio

“Café Paris”
April 2008 - Turin - Café Paris

“The Screamed Color”
From December 8 to 31, 2007 - Turin - MILLEVOLTI Bookstore

“Art and Fashion”
From October 19 to 30, 2006 - Turin - Biko's

Group shows:
“Collective La Morra”
From January 1 to January 31, 2010 - La Morra (CN) - Municipal Winery of La Morra

“Rights-Integrated Exhibition”
June 21 and 22, 2009 - Turin - Onda Urbana Onlus Association

“167 Exhibition of Figurative Arts”
April 2009 - Turin - Society Promoter of Fine Arts

“International Italy Art 2009”
From March 25 to April 6, 2009 - Turin - Villa Gualino

“166 Exhibition of Figurative Arts”
From March 28 to April 27, 2008 - Turin - Society Promoter of Fine Arts
Les Couleurs de l'Italie
From January 1 to September 15, 2007 - Paris - Galerie d'Art Espace Arsinoé
“EAT - Nourishing Art”
From March 20 to April 1, 2007 - Turin - Italian Art in the World-Onlus Association
“Artinfiore”
September 24, 2006 - Villastellone (TO) - Aldo Assom Painter Art Competition
“Hot Lands”
From August 1 to 8, 2006 - Santa Margherita Ligure (GE) - Il Sorpasso Art Gallery