Isabel De Obaldía
Beasts and Men
Reviews

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Online catalogue of the exhibition

Matthew Kangas, Glass Magazine, Spring 1998:

...With extensive earlier gallery and museum exhibitions since 1977 in Panama City, Havana and Florida, De Obaldía's Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art exhibition was long overdue. Because of her training in the U.S. and frequent appearances at Pilchuck Glass School (1987, 1989, 1990-94), it was appropriate for Isabel De Obaldía to present the results of one year's work to an American audience. Solid, affecting and original in their own way, the sculptures introduced an international talent to the U.S., transporting a vision at once colorfully appealing and darkly threatening.

Mary Schneider Enriquez, ARTnews, January 1998:

Panamanian artist Isabel De Obaldía casts sculptures in glass that evoke ancient stone statues. Although small, the predominantly male figures seem monumental....

Given the fragility of glass and the uncertainties of the casting process..., Obaldía's ability to conceive an evocatively sculpted figure in itself merits notice.

...Obaldía sculpts glass into figures at once seductive and startling.

David Ebony, Art in America, May 1998:

This season in New York, an extraordinary number of sculpture exhibitions featured innovative uses of glass.... One of the most outstanding was the solo debut by Panamanian artist Isabel De Obaldía of some 16 recent glass sculptures, titled "Man and Beast."

...The artist's innovative approach to Latin America's figurative tradition is evident in numerous pieces, including Hidden a standing figure that recalls a Day of the Dead sculpture.