BiOGRAPHY
Isabella Di Bono (b. 1997) is an internationally collected Honduran painter based in the USA. Di Bono creates ambitious abstract paintings that articulate an interest in responsive exploration and decision-making rooted in color and mark making. Originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, she resided there until the age of 18. In 2016, she embarked on her journey to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, with a supplementary major in Art History, at the University of Notre Dame from which she graduated in 2021.
Isabella’s profound fascination for the art world ignited at a very young age, when she fell in love with the expressive qualities of painting and drawing, propelling her lifelong pursuit of delving deeper into the realms of the art world. As a creator, her fascination with abstract painting is rooted in a desire to create mental landscapes that immerse the viewer in a state of presence. Her artworks have been showcased in exhibitions both locally and internationally, garnering recognition and finding homes in numerous private collections worldwide. Some of the places Isabella's artwork has been collected include: United States (Atlanta, Chicago, DC, Miami, New York City), Guatemala (Guatemala City), Honduras (Tegucigalpa), Mexico (Mexico City) and Puerto Rico (San Juan).
ARTIST STATEMENT
Through the vast possibilities of color, line and form, I create abstract paintings that materialize the flowing complex of decisions I make. Paint lends itself well to the immediacy and flexibility of my open-ended and responsive making process. As I create, I am in a constant conversation with the canvas. I experiment with changes in opacity, texture and viscosity by employing techniques such as pouring, dripping, scraping, and mark making. My process guides me into a combination of possibilities within the constraints of the materiality of paint.
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I think both fast and slow. Through quick, intuitive responses and reflective musing, an organic fluidity develops, creating movement and rhythm across the whole composition that gradually emerges as a visual map of my decision-making process. I respond in the moment of making through a dialogue with the materials I use, as well as with the history of painting. I am departing from a western tradition that attempts to find finite explanations to the nature of reality.
Through the use of vibrant color combinations, energetic gestures, and layering, I want to embrace and celebrate the idea that there is no single, static answer. But, rather, an exciting interplay between innumerable sets of possibilities that constantly become and transform.
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This process is in continual formation. It consists of a tension between seemingly opposed mindsets: conscious and instinctive, free and restricted, continuous and disrupted, characterized by difference and sameness. The indefinite path I pursue, takes innumerable detours to arrive at a place of harmony: a visual atlas — a series of decisions made in response to the moment, as well as to the history of painting and the materials I engage with.
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Visual rhythms guide your mind through evolving interpretations.
ARTICLES
2020
"2019 Undergraduate Residency Exhibition," South Bend Museum of Art,
July 5-Sept.27.
Diets, Joseph. "Three College Students Delve into the Unknown at South Bend Museum of Art," South Bend Tribune, Aug. 23.
Prosniewski, Grace. "Isabella 'Isa' Di Bono '21," Hesburgh Women of Impact,
Sept. 4.
Rooney, Shannon. "Isabella Di bono '21 Makes Abstract Paintings Experiential," Meet the (ND) Maker, June 17.
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2019
"Summer Undergraduate Residency Program," Michiana WNIT Education Counts, WNIT Channel, Sept. 3.
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