ISABEL CISNEROS AND THE FLEXIBILITY OF MATTER

| by Maria Rosaria Roseo |

Isabel Cisneros, a Venezuelan artist from Caracas, trained at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, specializing in literature and museology, before continuing her education at the Instituto de Diseño Fundación Neumann and the Asociación Venezolana de las Artes del Fuego. Initially focused on ceramics, she soon turned to textile techniques and materials, drawn by their flexibility, texture, and rich chromatic variety—ideal tools to satisfy her constant drive for research and innovation. This choice allowed her to break free from the constraints of weight and fragility inherent in clay, opening the path to experimentation that has become her signature approach.

Her sculptures, often composed of industrial objects such as buttons, bolts, fabrics, or small intertwined fragments of clay, take the form of flexible structures: true “woven sculptures” capable of being manipulated and transformed into ever-changing shapes, challenging the rigidity of traditional sculpture.

Reflecting on her evolution from ceramics to fibers, Cisneros emphasizes the importance for an artist of delving into memories, conscious or unconscious, in order to maintain honesty and coherence in their work. Although she worked extensively with clay, she sought to overcome its opacity and rigidity while still recognizing its intrinsic value.

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