Isobel Johnstone

"For me painting begins with something seen. This jump-starts a process that is physical, intellectual and emotional. Managing oil paint satisfies some primitive instinct but also needs a range of quite sophisticated responses. Images and forms are cancelled out, reinvented and balanced in order to achieve pictorial tension and, most elusive, to find a way to convey the feeling of exhilaration or calm (or both), which nature or the built environment delivered in the first place. I draw a lot and may use photographs along the way but virtual reality is no substitute for the energy of the experience of looking that drives my work."

Isobel trained at Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh University and Glasgow University. She was curator of the Scottish Arts Council Collection, Edinburgh from 1975-79, then curator of the Arts Council Collection, London from 1979-2004.

Exhibitions

2020
Oil Paintings by Isobel Johnstone, Rowley Gallery, London
2008
Friends Autumn Exhibition, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
2007
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
1998
Leone Cockburn Gallery, Edinburgh
1996
The Italian Connection, Vicarage Cottage Gallery, North Shields
Leone Cockburn Gallery, Edinburgh
1995
Under Southern Skies, Woodlands Art Gallery, Greenwich
1991
Italian Landscapes, Terrace Gallery, Worthing
1989
Italian Landscapes, Gardner Centre, University of Sussex