Bio and
Artistic approach
Horizon | Texture | Flow
Isabelle Murray is a contemporary visual artist whose painting practice is inspired by the horizons and luminous transformations of the Fleuve Saint-Laurent, exploring the changing states of the river landscape through material and gesture.
Bio
Based in Rivière-du-Loup in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, Isabelle Murray has been developing an artistic practice since 2008, inspired by variations of light, lines of horizon, and seasonal transformations of the Fleuve Saint-Laurent.
Situated at the intersection of abstraction and suggested landscape, her works translate the estuarine space of the river into pictorial compositions where horizontality structures the image. Working primarily with a palette knife, the material becomes a sensitive terrain of exploration: layers, impastos, and colour fields evoke the movement of water, mudflats, the presence of ice, and atmospheric transitions.
With a background in graphic design, Isabelle Murray develops a painting practice where formal rigor meets a contemplative experience of the territory. Her works aim less to represent the landscape than to reveal its sensations — light, rhythm, and depth.
Since her first solo exhibition Les Phares at the Maison de la culture de Rivière-du-Loup in 2013, her work has been shown in multiple venues across the Bas-Saint-Laurent, Québec City, and Montréal. Several of her works have also been selected by the Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent for their annual auction.
Artistic Approach
Isabelle Murray’s practice revolves around the observation of the Fleuve Saint-Laurent and its luminous and atmospheric variations. Working with a palette knife, the material becomes a space of tension between sky and water, translating the river landscape’s changing states. The horizon acts as a place of suspension, inviting a contemplative experience where light, rhythm, and movement converge.
