• Skin akin to gravity
    • Oil on Board
    • 18 x 18 inches
    SOLD
    • Skin akin to drifting
    • Oil on Board
    • 18 x 18 inches
    SOLD
    • Skin akin to wanderlust
    • Oil on Board
    • 18 x 18 inches
    SOLD
    • Yonder, Thither I
    • Oil on Board
    • 36 x 24 inches
    SOLD
    • Yonder, Thither II
    • Oil on Board
    • 36 x 24 inches
    SOLD
    • Yonder, Thither III
    • Oil on Board
    • 36 x 24 inches
    SOLD
    • Yonder, Thither IV
    • Oil on Board
    • 36 x 24 inches
    • $4300
    • Yonder, Thither VII
    • Oil on Board
    • 36 x 24 inches
    • SOLD
    • Yonder, Thither VIII
    • Oil on Board
    • 36 x 24 inches
    SOLD
    • Body, A Narrative
    • Oil on Board
    • 9 x 12 inches
    SOLD
    • Like Every Set Of Eyes
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    • $950
    • Lost Upwardly
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    • $950
    • Gone Toward
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    • $950
    • Goodnight From Strange Delirium
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    SOLD
    • The Live Long Day
    • Oil on Board
    • 9 x 12 inches
    • $950
    • It Turns Out I Had No Idea
    • Oil on Board
    • 9 x 12 inches
    • $950
    • Welcome Forth
    • Oil on Board
    • 9 x 12 inches
    • $950
    • Out Of The Blue & Into The Red
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    • $950
    • I Almost Lost It On The Other
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    SOLD
    • Wherever You Feel
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    SOLD
    • Arching Glimpse
    • Oil on Board
    • 12 x 9 inches
    SOLD
    • Teles
    • Oil on Board
    • 48 x 60 inches
    SOLD

Artist Statement

Morphogenesis

This project searches for a way of disengaging the psychological autopilot of the viewer as they encounter an image at once recognizable yet vaguely uncanny. We begin with the image of the oft-reiterated female form acting both as autobiographical narrative and as an historically recognized art subject. By bridging abstraction and figuration, the works speak to the contemporary moment—where culture has taken increasingly towards collaging all the artifacts of the past like a dj to spawn new frontier.

We find that our current collective identity is defined not simply by what it is, but by what borders it has defended in an attempt to exclaim what it is not. These demarcations are being illuminated in contemporary society in the hopes, of some, that they be reintegrated and ultimately eliminated. In this way, the challenging commingling of subtly dark or abject visual themes with vivid, phosphorescent color, evident in the works suggests a new vocabulary hinging on the coming together of disparate identities. There is as much indication of fertility in the subject as there is a sense of decomposition, both visually and metaphorically. Therefore, the energy in the works defy stasis and entropy and encourages excitation and organic symbiosis. We begin with two points that hopefully fall in love with each other. They twist and create disruptions, or ripples, like sound waves in a vacuum, increasing flexibility and dislodging rigidity in their midst. Here, the theme Morphogenesis refers to the innate desire for entity and environment to become one.

Rather than presenting the iconic feminine figure in a frozen portrayal, this project acts more like a system of visual imagery. The system is meant for continuations rather than endings, and is therefore expressed serially and repetitively. The movement from piece to piece is meant to be subtle in contrast to the slightly bedazzling nature of the pieces. In this way, the pieces are meant to encourage a transitioning towards the other side of a historically ‘over-rendered’ argument, to a new vocabulary that the viewer may know is there, but doesn’t yet know how to engage.

Artist Bio

Julia Sanders is an artist based in Philadelphia, PA. She recently graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where she studied painting with a focus on chiaroscuro and the feminine form. A prolific artist from a young age, she received a full scholarship to attend the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA. While in school, Sanders helped to establish and run the non-profit arts organization, Art Collision. The artist collective provided opportunities for emerging artists to curate and participate in international pop-up shows hosted by well-established galleries. Sanders went on to develop and curate exhibitions at Space Gallery in San Francisco. From there she decided to relocate to the East Coast to complete her BFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Sanders has exhibited nationally and internationally, presenting contemporary figurative works that speak to her own personal experience of temporality and the feminine form.

Selected Exhibitions

Education

2018               BFA/Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania, PA

2005              Painting, one semester, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2003               Boulder High School, Boulder, CO

2002               Pratt Summer Program, New York City, NY

Solo exhibitions

2019              Morphogenesis, Space Gallery, Denver, CO

2013               Art at Den, Den Gallery, Austin, TX

2011               Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2010               Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2009               Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007               Laughing Goat, Boulder, CO

2006               Rembrandt Yards, Boulder, CO

2005               Boulder Republic, Boulder, CO

2004               Mullein Design, Boulder, CO

2003               Mullein Design, Boulder, CO

2002               Mullein Design, Boulder, CO

2001               Penny Lane, Boulder, CO 

Group exhibitions

2018               117thAnnual Student Exhibition, PAFA, Philadelphia, PA

2017               116thAnnual Student Exhibition, PAFA, Philadelphia, PA

2016               Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2010               Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2009               Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008               Art Collision, Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006               Art Collision, Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006               Art Collision, Park Slope pop-up gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2005               Commissioned Work, Mipham Shedra Buddhist Center, Tacoma, WA

2005               Art Collision, San Francisco, CA

2005               Boulder Fringe Fest, Boulder, CO

2004               Anniversary Show, George Schmidt Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2003               Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Scholarships and Awards

2017               Violette de Mazia Memorial Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2016               Caldwalader Prize for Portraiture, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2013               Caldwell/Maguire Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2004               Presidential Scholarship, full tuition, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2002               Pre College Merit Scholarship, Pratt Institute, New York, NY

2002               Congressional Arts Competition, Boulder High School, Boulder, CO

2000               Merit Scholarship, Perry Mansfield Arts Academy, Steamboat Springs, CO

Art related Experience

Gallerist/Curator/Exhibition Coordinator, Space Gallery, 2009-2010, San Francisco, CA  

Non-profit Cofounder/Exhibition Coordinator/Exhibitor, Art Collision,2007-2009

Exhibition Coordinator/Gallerist, Boulder Fringe Fest, 2007, Boulder, CO

Vocalist, Paper Stars, folk rock band, 2006, Boulder, CO

Volunteer, Boulder Fringe Festival, 2005, Boulder, CO