CRITICS

"It is truly extraordinary that on the other side of the ocean, in one of the most productive centers in the United States, Houston, Texas, we find one of the most intense expressions of western art. The icons, those marvelous pieces that talk to the heart and touch the soul, are not only the fruits of the labor of a saint monk in a Russian monastery. No! They are also the work done by a woman, who is also Mexican and Catalan.

When you admire these pieces of art you see the intense and melancholic face of the Vladimir Madonna, the serene Virgin of Don, the just look, filled with love of Christ Pantocrator, the painful and intense crucifixes, and the saint in mystical entrancement. All of them adorned with magnificent covers with the brilliance of stones coming from the womb of Mexico.

At first, as you look at them, you feel a chill running through the skin with excitement, as it marvels you with silence, filled with God, and the images they evoke. After some reflection you realize that what you have in front of you is almost a miracle.

In the workshop of a young and fascinating married woman with two sons, who lives in Texas, land of cowboys and oil, germinated the seeds scattered by Constantinople two millenniums ago.

Because of the extraordinary success of the exhibits and lectures of Creixell, a group of artists have followed her example. We know that the industrialized West, dried of its myths and spirituality, eagerly searches for them. Like two thousand years ago, the answer comes fr4om the East.

The icon is not the image of God but the impressions of God, because He was the inspiration.

On one of the trips Creixell took to Russia and Greece, she was moved by this metaphysical beauty of the icon that at first she found dark and without form, but made a profound impression on her. An unstoppable transformation took place within her. She found the icon art, a creative procedure she did not know, but most important she found the answer to quench her thirst. When a human being is lucky enough to experience this transformation, nothing can stop this new direction.

Creixell persisted in her studies and found the techniques to transmit the inspirations of her soul. Obviously, her icons are accurate reproductions, in the spirit and the tradition, but the wealth and unique creativity of her Latin American culture are strongly emphasized in the embossment work, the colors and archaic forms of the semiprecious stones she uses.

She connects, in the sacred sense, the East and the West, creating a wonderful alchemy between these faraway cultures.

She has found the way to listen to God’s voice within herself, as those ancient Byzantine monks did in the enclosure of their monasteries, when they gave life to this theophany trough work and prayer. We, who are moved looking at this beauty, listen to this voice trough its colors".

Dr. Francesca Diano

Art Critic

Padua, Italy

"The work of Isabel Creixell does not represent a historical discovery but a new life. New artistic blood take on an ancient eastern tradition and brings it to the unaccustomed eyes of today’s observer, in great need of spirituality.

Her work is not common imitation of the Byzantine icons, but a creation that connects the magnificent oriental origin with the soul of a modern woman open to the present world.

The originality of this work awakens our attentions as a result of two factors: on one hand there are the meticulous details of her oil creations of the sacred iconographic Byzantine figures in agreement with its style and tradition. On the other hand is her faculty to recreate with her personal touch, the embossed metal that covers most of the surface of the sacred image.

In other words the iconography maintains its Byzantine style and the decoration is modern.

The deep attraction toward these painted boards, dressed in embossed pewter, that are frequently inlayed with stone, reflect the nostalgia of the Christian iconography, deeply-rooted in the ancient world, and also the inspiration of a religiosity united to a great aesthetic sense of the image.

Everything in the Byzantine world seems still, magically fixed to the passing of time, while our era is in continuous transition, Creixell’s work stands out from the modern style when she recreates an ambiance found only in the ancient monasteries.

Creixell is already famous in the United States, Mexico, Central and South America for her work executed with incredible attention. She has obtained the recognition of authorities in the art world for the religious and artistic aspect of her work".

Dr. Paolo Rizzi

Art Critic

Venice, Italy