Issis Macias
Is an artist living and working in Madison, Wisconsin.
Macias is a self-taught artist, first generation Mexican American, born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In 2012, an encounter with a community of avant-garde painters, musicians, and photographers in downtown Los Angeles ignited an exploration of "self", which catapulted her into a journey of artistic expression.
Today, her abstract paintings are varied in style, reflecting an intuitive process and approach. Macias primarily works with acrylic and oil pastels on canvas to create vibrant and emotive compositions where color, shapes, and lines convey a visual unity. She uses free-form methods of smearing and scraping paint with canvas keys, wedges, and bare hands to externalize her emotions; staining canvases with acrylic pours also allows her to invoke play in her creative practice. Through her art, Macias aims to inspire viewers to take a moment of contemplation and introspection.
Macias finds inspiration in Mother Earth's colors, Indigenous art, water, music, travel, and her little muse - Inez Lily.
The Art of Issis Macias: Connecting to the Spirit of Creativity by Jonathan Gramling of The Capital City Hues, November 2021
"Abstract painting allows me to surrender to the canvas and colors. It’s a spiritual process in which my mind quiets and allows my soul to speak in textures, colors, and lines."
“My approach to art is a meditative process where the texture of each pigment guides the movement of my hands as it soaks into the canvas. At times the process is intense with hours of rampant creativity. When the process is slow and deliberate, my intuition directs every stroke of color.”