Donna Isham 'SHE: unDaunted' at Hostetler Gallery

NANTUCKET, Mass., July 17, 2020 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​​​​​​​California-based fine artist DONNA ISHAM returns to Nantucket for her selective exhibition titled SHE: UnDaunted opening Friday, July 17, 2020, at the Hostetler Gallery (42 Centre Street, Nantucket, MA 02584). The selected exhibit will feature Donna Isham’s thought-provoking female-centric figurative series along with her emotive abstract works that are naked, raw and bold.

SHE: UnDaunted features paintings that explore the essence of Isham’s work, contextualizing the courage, strength and passion of the female form. It reflects the power and beauty of what it means to be a woman. Isham states, “This series embraces the ever-changing ideals of female beauty and potential. We can no longer be diminished, as women, as a part of humanity, but rather embrace the strength of what it means to be a woman, the power and compassion to celebrate diversity and individuality. Strength follows passion. I hope to honor that beauty.”

Donna Isham works with live models, photographs and her imagination to depict women as courageous and undaunted. “These paintings are portals into the sexuality, passion and strength these individuals possess, their inner turmoil and triumph as they transcend challenges,” says Isham. Both evocative and contemplative, they speak to universal experiences. Turbulent times and rapidly changing cultural norms invite the viewer to reflect on overcoming obstacles and expanding in these “new normal” times. 

Utilizing a range of visuality - sinuous lines, layered patterns, vibrant colors, dynamic brush work and textured palette knives -  Isham deliberately creates ambiguous, yet beautifully forward female forms that can be experienced uniquely and personally through the female gaze. Isham allows and insists the viewer interject themselves and their own unique viewpoints. Her paintings represent women as courageous and unbound by previous constraints. Insistence on audience participation creates a community of profound and diverse emotional experiences that transcend culture, language, time and location - that together - support the concept of “womanhood” today.

Isham’s passion for reimagining the concept of the female form, acknowledging diversity and the intersectionality of standards of beauty, culture and language was recognized following her Art Basel "UnBound" installation, with Notable Magazine’s statement that “this is what feminist art looks like.” 

Donna Isham draws influence from her vast experience in fashion and entertainment. Her paintings are part of private collections worldwide and her work has been exhibited at numerous galleries across the country including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Vienna (Austria) and Nantucket and with several galleries in 2018 and 2019 during Art Basel, Miami. Her career as a fine artist has also taken a philanthropic route, with Isham serving as the President of Artists for Human Rights Foundation, where she uses her creativity and expertise to create a more tolerant world. Most recently, she was featured as an arts educator with non-profit children’s organization Art Of Elysium in Los Angeles.

Hostetler Gallery, Nantucket, will remain on view through Sept. 7, 2020.

Contact:
Jennifer Gross
Evolutionary Media Group
323-658-8700
[email protected]

Source: Donna Isham