Infantile Semi-Abstraction is the name Ismail gives to his distinctive style of portraiture. Drawing on the histories of Naïve painting, Neo-expressionism, Cubism and the architecture, art and history of his hometown, Accra, he examines personal feelings as they relate to our environments. The paintings have a sculptural sensibility. Luminous oil and acrylic shades are applied without inhibition as thick impasto using an eclectic range of tools. Ismail also incorporates elements of collage and assemblage — often with recycled debris from his studio — in a symbolic gesture that parallels the beauty found in imperfection with the inevitable faults of a human being.