“Revolution consists in watching a rose until one’s eyes are crushed”

--Alejandra Pizarnik

Carol Isern (Badalona, 1967) studied Philology at Universitat de Barcelona. In her twenties she started painting on her own until she began studying in painter Ortuño’s studio. Afterwards she studied Graphic Design at Escola Massana and Illustration at Escola Eina, and worked for a short while as an assistant in the studio of the painter Gino Rubert. During this period, she made illustrations for some publishing houses, including: Enciclopèdia Salvat, Punto de Lectura, Ediciones B and The New York Press, among others. Eventually, she decided to abandon illustration and devote herself entirely to painting. Several key texts were formative to her artistic development at this time. By chance she discovered a monography on Zao-Wou-ki,  "The Unknown Craftsman" by Soetsu Yanagi and "Vacío y plenitud" by François Cheng. She researched the work of Rothko, Tàpies, de Stäel and Turner. After a long self-taught period, she started to find herself in the materials. Currently, she continues in that process of development.

She participated in the collective exhibition La Santa 2002 (Barcelona) and in 28 Hipermerc’art 2011 (Barcelona). From 2012 her small-format works can be found in Carré d’Artistes, and in 2015 she had her first solo exhibition at Dieu, moviment creatiu (Cadaqués).

Albert Isern dedicated these pages to my work in his blog Món Icónic:

Carles González i Nogueras made this beautiful presentation film of my work: