Isabelle Devos
AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.
Isabelle Devos, featured in AQ Volume VI, is a contemporary landscape artist whose evocative paintings bridge various countries and cultures. Born in Belgium, raised in Canada, and now based in Australia, Devos has built a reputation for her distinctive approach to landscape, capturing both the physical terrain and emotional resonance of place.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University and has exhibited widely across Canada and Australia. Her work has been shortlisted for several major art awards in Canada and Australia and is held in significant public collections, including the New England Regional Art Museum and the State Library of New South Wales.
Devos is represented by Lethbridge Gallery and Frances Keevil in Australia, and Fog Forest Gallery in Canada. Her art has garnered critical acclaim, with features in Arts Atlantic, Italian Vogue, and The New York Times, as well as interviews on BBC Radio, CBC Television, and National Public Radio (NPR).
Committed to fostering artistic growth, Devos has participated in several residencies, including the Gunyah Residency and the Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence program, and has studied with painter David Keeling in Tasmania. Isabelle Devos spends her time in her rural Australian studio and continues to explore the nuances of landscape with sensitivity, depth, and a distinctive contemporary voice.
https://www.isabelledevos.com.au
What inspired you to become an artist and how did you decide to commit to this path?
Since I was very young, I could always be found drawing and creating, and was lucky enough to have parents who encouraged me to continue my studies once I left high school.
Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?
My recent work explores a landscape that is near yet undiscovered by me, and I have spent several days over some months exploring the area and finding hidden roads and places that inspire me. It is about finding the particular quality of sunlight and atmosphere that shifts the scene from the banal into one of beauty.
What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?
The work I exhibit most often relates to each other in the form of exploring an underlying story or mood within a landscape that is the boundary between wilderness and human habitation. I experiment with other media and techniques, branching into conceptual work involving photography and poetry. I allow my creative brain and heart to follow any urges I have in exploring new media, whether physical or digital, audiovisual or literary.
What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?
I hope that my art can create a sense of wonder and serenity about the ordinary—a place where people and nature intersect, where there can be a subtle yet dramatic event unfolding at this borderland of fields and forest, urban landscapes and streetscapes.
Share a mantra or favorite quote that keeps you going.
I have a few favourites, but these two always resonate with me in their simplicity:
"Art is bigger than mere subject matter. It is bigger than life." – Jerry Saltz
"There is a sort of elation about sunlight on the upper part of a house." – Edward Hopper
