Isabella Corine: Surreal Memory

By VOICE-TRIBUNE • Photos By Kathryn Harrington • Sponsored By The Shapin-Nicolas

Art Project (S.N.A.P.) Foundation

Isabella Corine’s paintings explore emotions and ideas through symbolic imagery. Each work begins with a feeling or concept, such as courage, discipline, or nostalgia, expressed through people, objects, animals, nature, and architecture. Her dreamlike scenes are submerged in honey, veiled by oil, streaked with paint, and suspended beneath rippling water. The small details of her oil paintings invite close looking, but the artworks refuse the logic of straightforward portraiture and favor a more surreal kind of beauty.

Her work initially began with challenging herself to master what she considered the most difficult subjects. "It started as a challenge to paint what was considered to be the hardest subject matter: people, water, and shiny objects like glass." Once she mastered the foundation, realism no longer felt sufficient. "As I started to master that technique, I wanted to find a way to take it a step further than what felt like replicating photography."

This nudged Corine toward the surreal, dreamlike storytelling now displayed in her work. Corine's art uses organic substances as visual metaphors without abandoning the convincing illusion of physical reality. "I started to use these surreal, organic elements to represent the unseen in a way that looks real, but wouldn’t naturally occur in real life. It lets the viewer use their imagination to explore the deeper meaning and simultaneously appreciate its simplicity."

Each material has its own meaning to Corine. Honey stands for "nature, playfulness, and experimentation." Oil "simply intensifies the subject matter of significance." Paint "represents the act of changing your own reality," while bourbon points directly to Louisville, where Corine lives and works. She uses these recurring elements in her art to examine vulnerability, transformation, and emotional complexity through meticulously rendered surfaces. "I try to simplify it as much as possible, so the detail doesn’t become overstimulating, but the viewer can feel it without having to explain why."

There is much to absorb in Corine's paintings, though her studio routine is unexpectedly practical. She begins her mornings at the gym, handles marketing and sales during the day, and reserves her painting sessions for the evening. "I often turn on an audiobook, a podcast, or a movie I’ve already seen, so I don’t get too anxious sitting still for so long."

Her most ambitious work isn't confined to canvas. Frisson, a multimedia oil painting now in the collection of Larry Shapin and LaDonna Nicolas, recreates a memory through hidden lighting and recorded sound. The painting depicts "a small version of myself lying in the grass, looking at the sky in the woods where I grew up." Embedded lights transition from day to night, while speakers play field recordings captured at that location. "Frisson is the feeling of goosebumps or overwhelming awe," she explains. "For me, that feeling has always been found lying beneath the stars, surrounded by nature, and this piece invites others to experience that moment with me."

This inclination toward storytelling inspired The Art of Equilibrium, Corine's forthcoming podcast. Each conversation with artists, entrepreneurs, and leaders will become the basis for a new painting, illustrating the exchange. The project suggests that, from Corine's perspective, painting is not the conclusion of an idea but another way of carrying a conversation forward.

For more information about the artist, visit: https://isabellacorine.com/

To learn more about The Shapin-Nicolas Art Project (S.N.A.P.) Foundation, visit: https://www.shapinnicolasartproject.com/