Featured Artist Julie Feldman | Artsy Shark

Painter Julie Feldman presents a collection of expressive portraits that capture the mystery and soul of women. See more of her portfolio on her website.

 

 

As a contemporary American oil painter, my abstract figurative portraits focus primarily on the female face. They explore the complexities and contradictions, the vulnerabilities and strengths, and of course, the innate beauty found there.

 

 

My journey to  becoming an artist began in Baltimore when I was five years old. One Saturday morning, my mother took me to the Baltimore Museum of Art for my first art class.

 

 

I still remember the  painting in one of the galleries that we walked past on our way to the art studio. It was Picasso’s Mother and Child. It made quite an impression on me. So much so that as I was conducting  research for my Muse series, and encountered the Picasso again, the remembrance of that Saturday morning made me realize that exquisite memories of the past are what inform my work.

 

 

I returned to full-time painting in 2015, after living in Los Angeles for many years where I had a decorative arts business. My first paintings were in acrylic. Most of my work is now done in oil. It allows me the freedom of texture, stroke, light and intensity to create portraits that I hope speak to you from the canvas.

 

 

My work has been described as evocative, accessible, mysterious, and sometimes haunting. What I know is that as I paint, I often feel as if I am visiting with the soul, the life of this face I am creating. I somehow hear their story and translate what I have heard into a visible form.

 

 

Inspiration for my latest series comes from the quote, “In order to turn a life into a memoir, we must cultivate the art of looking back…” This latest collection, entitled Looking Back explores the art of revisiting memories and the emotions they evoke. Often I become caught up in the faces I am creating, pondering their past, in trying to see what they see when they “look back.”

 

 

My paintings are based on personal memories, family photographs, and found imagery. I am influenced by reality versus memory, vulnerability versus strength, and beauty for the sake of beauty.

 

 

My paintings all narrate a story of fragile presences and the essence of human emotions. I hope they give the viewer a deeply moving experience.

 

Julie Feldman invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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