Isabel Bonilla Artist Biography

Isabel Bonilla is a multidisciplinary artist based in Costa Rica. She holds a BFA in Painting and a BFA in Printmaking. She exhibited at the Fall 2023 edition of Superfine Art Fair in Washington D.C. and Spring 2025 edition of the (newly rebranded) Superfair in San Francisco with PxP Contemporary.

Statement

My current work repurposes fast-fashion jeans found in thrift stores. I cut and tear strips of the denim fabric and then pull threads to manipulate the level of fray along the edges. By layering the various pieces and then wrapping them taut around a stretcher, I create oceanscapes with a tactile and dimensional quality. I made the connection that frayed denim resembled the spume of waves from the lifelong habit of cutting off the bottoms of my jeans to fit my petite stature. 

Learning about poor sustainability practices in the fashion industry drastically shifted my perspectives on personal style and clothing consumption. Producing just one pair of jeans can use up to 10,000 liters of water, not to mention the high energy and chemical cost of the process, all for the average person to wear an article of clothing only seven times before getting rid of it. The US ranks as one of the top nations producing fashion waste, with tons of its unwanted clothing being sent off to other countries each year. Where I’m based in Costa Rica, these items end up in secondhand shops called tiendas Americanas (American stores). By purchasing discarded jeans and upcycling them into art, I give the material a new life and aim to break the cycle of production to landfill. By intentionally using denim to make landscapes of the natural resource utilized to create it, I simultaneously remind viewers of the beauty of our environment as well as what we stand to lose if we fail to preserve it.