trading maps for
stars
julia schwartz
Published by Bleicher Galleries BGartdealings.com
Since Julia Schwartz’s rapid evolution into abstraction, she has stayed true to her psychoanalytic process. Schwartz has been shifting paint techniques into exciting territories and is at the forefront of psychological exploration in painting. Traveling through this new body of work is another evolutionary shift for her, after her exploration in subject matter and critical acclaim for her exhibit last year, Hollow Sea. In response to the tragic tsunami in Japan and other personal misfortunes in the artist's life, Schwartz's work, which had been predominantly figurative at the time, became distinctly more abstracted, breaking into glacier-like fleshy icicles on a 'hollow sea'. In the final works from this series, the landscapes broke apart in exploding spiraling twists, only fragments of figure, time, and space remained, a cathartic epiphany that led to her current works where the subject matter transformed from loss to intimacy. Schwartz cites a section of an Andre Aciman essay as one of the sources of inspiration for her current body of work: "What... touches us is the radiance we've projected on things, not the things themselves- the envelope, not the letter, the wrapping, not the gift... These intimations travel from the objects and beings around us and eventually reach our senses. But the opposite is also true: we radiate films of what we have within us and project them on everything we see—which is how we become aware of the world and, ultimately, why we come to love it. Without these films, these fictions, which are both our alibis and the archive of our innermost life, we have no way to connect to or touch anything." -Andre´ Aciman, from ‘Intimacy’ In Trading Maps for Stars, Schwartz conducts a dialog between emotional states of anxiety, worry, and self-consciousness, and excitement, exuberance, and expansiveness. There is a tension that exists in her new work between these states, and the title she chose is an expression of this. “I often joke about needing maps... "maps" being code for ways to control things that are out of control.... "Stars" I think is code for a kind of exuberant pleasure in paint.” The use of the impasto technique creates images that are primitive yet powerful. The relentless brushstrokes in "Driving into Big Sky" and the conscious layering of paint in "Candyland," outline both geometric and organic shapes that resemble microorganisms that are impossible to be seen by the naked eye. In each painting, a seemingly unrelated movement is created by the juxtaposition of lines, shapes and colors, affecting the painting as a whole. When viewing, "Studio with Lucky Charms" one gets the mysterious yet fascinating feeling like diving underwater. Schwartz's expressive paintings intrigue one's imagination and challenge one to step out of the rational.
mustangs run wild 2012 oil on canvas 36x36 inches
a nest of robins in her hair 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
counting 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
your boat, your bed, your piece of pie 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
bride 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
candyland 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
broken wings and sad eyes 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
dream of the boardwalk 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
dreaming with one eye open 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
green hand 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
pillardiamondwaves 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
secret life of trees I 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
secret life of trees II 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
ice XXV (after the visit) 2011 oil on canvas 20x20 inches
(best)ice XXVII 2011 oil on canvas 16x20 inches
rug, apron, candy 2012 oil on linen 14x11 inches
VWLOO OLIH ZLWK 多QJHUV DQG VXSHUPDQ ORJR oil on linen 14x11 inches
this is the shape of the heart and mind 2011 oil on linen 14x11 inches
studio with lucky charms 2011 oil on canvas 16x20 inches
asphalt blooms 2011 oil on linen 11x14 inches
studio view 2011 oil on linen 10x8 inches
narcissus on the rocks 2011 oil on canvas 24x18 inches
heap 2011 oil on linen 20x20 inches