Marisabel Gonzalez
Abstract Expressions
Making a connection
Writer: Doug Clark
Photographer: Kayapa Creative Studio
A doctor who took a long time to call herself an artist, Marisabel Gonzalez has learned the classics to become abstract, and is using her paintings to connect with people.
Marisabel creates art to feel good, to express herself and to make a connection with people: “the connection is the main point of painting – all artists want to connect. It is our end game.”
She had an early entry to art, starting with ceramics and pottery classes at school, and has been a lifetime learner across the arts, including painting landscapes and still lifes, using oils and acrylics, creating mixed media, collage, wood and metal working, graffiti art, incorporating textiles and stitching and all the while there has been a strong pull to abstraction.
Rain Notes and Pond
“all artists want to connect. It is our end game.”
Her Year 12 graduation book said that she wanted to become a doctor, an ambition from the age of 8. But she first studied mechanical engineering before moving on to medical school. Her experience in mechanics and medicine got her used to working in 3D, which has influenced her art. Becoming a radiologist working with medical images, Marisabel was always painting too, giving her works away to family and friends. Work influenced art regarding the subject matter: landscapes started to fade away, and there was a move to capture the human body with her works telling stories from her medical experiences.
Following a career setback in 2010, art took on greater significance, and in 2014, she started painting at a shared artist studio on the Northern Beaches. Seeing “proper” artists at work, producing a body of work and, by now, selling her paintings, Marisabel realized she was an artist, too. The doctor and the artist became one.
Mornings pages and blooms
An important mentor, artist Joi Murugavell, introduced Marisabel to using spray-paint and the use
of non-conventional materials. As well as stitching and patching in her paintings, Marisabel includes text which is used as a diary and is often erased or modified to become unreadable, but still present. Works are autobiographical, created for herself, and she has to like the work before she can pass it on to others.
Paintings are generally large, and her colour palette has changed over the years. In the past, fluoros were dominant, and while still present in her works as a base layer, she now uses more elegant, subdued colours. She says, “I want to invite people to reflect on important things in life, which requires more serious colours.”
For the painting process, there is no plan or sketchbook to start with. Her painting is very organic and experimental, trying out different things that feel right. Marisabel needs at least two canvases on the go at any one time and is usually working on five to seven at once. Music feeds the work activity with Florence and the Machine playing when drama is needed, Latin dance music to provide an energy boost, and jazz to chill out and experiment. When she knows that the work is finished, it is then handed over to the viewer and belongs to them. She does keep a lookout, though, for the magic of the impact on the viewer, enjoying the connection that her abstract work provides.
Seeds
