Says Isabelle de Kleine of her work: ‘Un-Define’ is about rejecting the neat categories and boxes that society seeks to place us. We are abstract in nature. Multifaceted and layered. Flawed and beautiful. The work reflects this theme through areas of detail and abstraction. Dark and muddy colours are combined with bright tones and textures are combined with flat areas of colour to create contrast and complexity.

The exhibition Un-define is a rejection of the idea that we must always be categorised and defined.

Our identities are constantly evolving and developing, yet we exist in a world that needs to define you. Define your art. Define your existence. But how can we be defined if we are inherently abstract in nature? Our memories fade and become distorted, and our perceptions are abstracted by our emotions, cognitive makeup and subconscious biases.

I draw inspiration from a wide array of sources, including the post-internet art movement, 70s psychedelia and iconographic paintings. The colourful, intricate and haunting works use collage and image manipulation to further explore issues such as the digitalisation of self, the gender revolution and beauty expectations.

The works have been developed through digital collage and then translated into mixed media paintings, undergoing a lengthy process of abstraction. This represents the notion that memories are always being rewritten and that each time we remember we move further from reality. The integration of technology in the process of creating the works touches on the amalgamation of technology in our lives and identity.

Symptomatic of the postmodern digital age, the paintings seek to explore the complexity of human experience and find a beauty within the chaos that is our reality.

Signed on front.