Juli About

Juli About - Petit Mouchoir - Le nuage de l'oeil

Technique: Engobing and stamping.

Artist Biography: - The ceramics of Juli About reflect the beauty of the body, intimacy and the landscape - Juli About has found in ceramics a new form of artistic expression, enriched by her experience in the plastic arts, theater and contemporary jewelry. It was precisely the latter that allowed her to discover ceramics for the first time. In 2015, she was awarded a prize in the prestigious "French Art Workshops Competition" which highlights the artistic vitality and know-how of art professionals in each of the French regions. In 2021 she received the Special Mention of the "Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize", an international art prize that celebrates diversity and excellence in figurative visual arts. Juli is an expert in ceramics and particularly enjoys experimenting with contrasts. White ceramics are often thought of as rigid, stable and immovable, but Juli manages to transform them into something fluid, changing and flexible. It has texture, volume and we want to touch it to see if it is really soft or not. For Juli, working with ceramics means dealing with the inherent fragility of the material, but also with the fragility of our being in the world. It is a material to take care of, and it invites us to take care of the world. Juli uses a small percentage of paper in ceramics, which allows her to create solid sculptures. For the exhibition "This is not a chair" she made ceramic chair cushions. Under her expert hands the ceramics can become hearts, hands, feet, torsos, seeds or underwear; all adorned with meticulous and beautiful details. Her work is about the body; the boundary between the body and the landscape; the porosity of the body in its environment; what goes in, what comes out, what nourishes, what hurts. How the link we maintain between the inside and the outside; between oneself and others is told. It questions the body, intimacy and the space that surrounds us. In her works we find reflections on the female body, its vulnerability and pleasure, childhood and the earth. The votive offerings, very present in her ceramics, are magical objects that contain incarnated prayers and that Juli relates to childhood and to the fragmentation of the body that seeks to restore its integrity. "Working with votive offerings is a way of talking about the whole body. The part for the whole. A global metonymy. We are part of the whole. Part of the landscape. The body is a landscape within a landscape. A kind of ex-voto to the whole of nature". The hearts is a series she began after the loss of her mother. As in the work on votive offerings, it is a way of talking about the whole body. For Juli it is essential to take care of ourselves, each individual, as a fragment of the whole. It is a global approach, an exploration of what connects us to the world. It is a way of being attentive to the world. Her work helps her to heal wounds, to overcome fears, to grow... in short, to live. Julio About was born in Avignon in 1974. He currently lives and works in Montfrin June 15, 2023 Lucia Duenas

 

Porcelain with paper. Engobing and stamping. Pear-shaped reflections and deformations. High temperature firing. Hook for hanging on the back. Under the hands of Juli About the ceramic suddenly becomes fluid, changing and flexible. It has texture, it has volume and we want to touch it to see if it is really soft or not. Juli uses ceramics with a small percentage of paper, which allows her to create solid sculptures. "Working with porcelain means dealing with the inherent fragility of the material, but also with the fragility of our being in the world. It is a material to take care of, and it invites us to take care of the world." Juli About