(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? is the title of Noel and Liam Gallagher’s sophomore album. Some might say this question also applies to the bold, psychedelic paintings in Isabella Dampney’s Britpop. Counterpointing the dingy angst coming out of America at the same time, bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp sang songs that blended mundane observations about growing up in England with supersonic imagery. Dampney walks a similar line as she interprets childhood memories onto canvas, infusing a visit to Melbourne Zoo with Blakean bombast, and staging a family earthquake against walls of plasticine (“Shake along with me”).

Tonight, she’s a rock n’ roll star.

Isabella Dampney is a Wellington-born, Auckland-based artist, and an alumna of Karori Normal School. She bases her figurative oil paintings on personal memories, a process of adaptation akin to the literary genre of auto-fiction. In 2023, Dampney completed her Master of Visual Arts at AUT. Recent exhibitions include Going Commando at Art Paper HQ, Feast of the Ass at Te Tuhi, and Hardballing it with the Big Guys at Hot Lunch.