JULIA MORGANHO - BEAUTY MEETS RESTRAINT
Large, often geometric surfaces, a reduced and finely nuanced choice of colors and, at first glance, seemingly wild applications of paint... This is what characterizes Julia Morganho's work. In her paintings, beauty meets restraint.
Her works - mostly medium-sized and large formats on canvas - are characterized by a very economical - almost simple - composition. Reduced to the essentials, Morganho plays with forms and a carefully applied color palette. Her abstract expressionism is not lavish, but rather minimalist in approach.
This is fitting when you consider that the Hamburg-based artist studied product design as well as art. Having grown up in an environment influenced by music and design, Julia Morganho uses the interplay of grand gesture and simple effect. However, she is not interested in the smooth, design-oriented presentation, but rather in the break that can arise through contrasts.
COLOUR, LIGHT AND COMPOSITION IN THEIR PUREST FORM
"I am attracted by the unfinished, the unexpected and also the incongruous - that is the source of inspiration that brings me to painting. I work very intuitively. Sometimes I have the picture and the colors in my head for a long time, and then it takes the right moment for it to transfer from there to the canvas," she reveals when asked how her compositions are created. "Music also plays a big role. It helps me to turn the many abstract thoughts I have into reality."
Fundamentally, Morganho's works are about combining strength and tranquillity. Similar to looking at clouds, it is the constantly changing shapes and structures that make her paintings so special. "I'm interested in the energy that an image can release. It's nice when I see that I can trigger emotions in the viewer without them having to understand or explain it." She recently showed that she succeeds in this brilliantly when she bathed the rooms of a former nuclear bunker in her hometown of Hamburg in brilliant white from floor to ceiling, just to make her works stand out even more dramatically: Color, light and composition in their purest form.
(Text by Christian Pfaff)
Artistic career
1981 Birth in Hamburg, Germany
2002 Studies, Industrial-/ Product Design, University of Fine Arts, Hamburg (DE)
2004 Studies, Zurich University of the Arts, Focus: Trends and Identity (CH)
2009 Foundation of 'Studio The Kids of Love', Selected Design and Sevensisters (CH)
2010 Release of 'Hansestadt Zürich', independent art and design project (CH)
2012 Art Basel Pop-up Shop 'Studio The Kids of Love' (CH)
2013-2015 Product & Textile Design, Cologne (DE)
2016 Start of free artistic work, Hamburg, (DE)
2023 Abstract|Now, Groupshow, KulturEnergiebunker, Hamburg (DE)
2023 Tabula Rasa 23, Group Exhibition, Oberfett, Hamburg (DE)
2024 Je t'aime, Groupshow, ArteriA, Barcelona (ES)
2024 AnHAENGEN, Groupshow, xpon-art Gallery, Hamburg (DE)
2024 Tabula Rasa 24, Group Exhibition, Oberfett, Hamburg (DE)
2025 Connexion Emotionnelle, Rart Gallery, Crans-Montana (CH)
2025 La La, Soloexhibition, Fabrik der Künste, Hamburg (DE)
2025 komm. komm., Soloexhibition, Oberfett Flex, Hamburg (DE)
For inquiries or collaboration proposals, please feel free to contact me.
