JULIA MORGANHO - BEAUTY MEETS RESTRAINT
Large, often geometric surfaces, a reduced and finely nuanced choice of colours and what at first glance appears to be a wild application of paint... This is what characterises Julia Morganho's work. In her paintings, beauty meets restraint.
Her works - mostly medium and large formats on canvas - are characterised by a very reduced composition. Reduced to the essentials, Morganho plays with forms and an almost sparingly used colour palette. Her Abstract Expressionism is not opulent, but rather minimalist in its approach to the viewer.
This is fitting when you realise that the Hamburg-based artist studied product design as well as art. Having grown up in an environment characterised by music and design, Julia Morganho uses the interplay between grand gesture and simple effect. However, she is not interested in the smooth, design-orientated presentation, but rather the rupture 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 the inspiration that makes me paint. I work very intuitively. Sometimes I've had the picture and the colours in my head for a long time and then it takes the right moment for it to move 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."
In principle, Morganho's works are about combining strength and tranquillity. Similar to looking at clouds, it is the ever-changing forms and structures that make her pictures so special. "I'm interested in the energy that a picture can release. It's nice when I can see, that I can trigger emotions in the viewer without having to understand or explain it." The fact that she succeeds in this brilliantly was demonstrated last year when she bathed the rooms of a former nuclear bunker in her hometown of Hamburg in glistening white from floor to ceiling, only to reflect her works even more dramatically for what they are: Colour, light and composition in their purest form.
(Text by Christian Pfaff)
Artistic career
Born 1981 in Hamburg, Germany.
2002 Studies, industrial/ product design at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg (HFBK), pre-diploma with Anne Marr, Professor of Textile Design, Glen Oliver Löw, Professor of Product Design; Ralph Sommer, Professor of Concept Design
2004 Studies, Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), specialization Trends and Identity, diploma with Katharina Tietze, Professor Trends & Identity - Department of Design
2009 Foundation of 'Studio The Kids of Love' (Textile design with a focus on screen printing); Sold by Einzigart Selected Design, Zurich and Sevensisters, Basel
2010 Release of 'Hansestadt Zürich'
2012 Art Basel Pop-up Shop 'Studio The Kids of Love'
2013-2015 Assistant, Textile Design, Cologne
since 2015 Free artistic work, Hamburg
For inquiries or collaboration proposals, please feel free to contact me.
