Julie Schumer
ARTIST STATEMENT
"The paintings in my ongoing figurative series arise organically from the paper, and appear through the subtle layers of paint that are applied and partially removed with a soft hand. They gradually appear as though they have just arrived. They are at once both guardians and messengers ..."
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
JULIE SCHUMER
BORN 1954, Los Angeles, CA
Pronounced textural layers and ambiguous human forms in Julie Schumer’s work produce an image that appears to have been excavated. Her mixed media paintings thus evoke a sense of the prehistoric though presented with a contemporary approach and materials. Recurring anonymous figures in her works describe universal human relationships. Disregarding specific identities, gender, or place allows her work to portray timeless and familiar interactions.
Her figurative paintings are constructed in an intuitive manner and in the tradition of abstract expressionism. She begins by subtly layering paint and textural materials onto paper, canvas, or board. Paint is randomly added and partially removed. Because of the additive and subtractive nature of this process, the figures gradually appear and the composition is eventually established while working. Schumer’s figures and abstract work clearly reveal her creative process.
Overall, Schumer’s figurative work is dominated by a monochromatic palette with color peeping through. Thick textural shapes of high-quality, white joint compound are interrupted with bits of saturated acrylic and ink color. Her use of graphite line offers structure amongst a tumult of mark-making and delineates the figures from the indistinct space they collectively inhabit. The series of figures are developed on heavy cotton rag paper, which become stiff due to the extent of the media used.
Schumer conceives of these characters as engaging in conversations, within each painting there is a nuanced and new interaction. The subtle interplay between the figures is intimate and yet open to interpretation. At frontal or three-quarter postures these groups fully reveal their relationships through small gestural cues that reference classical posture, particularly contrapposto, a tilt of the shoulders, hips, or spine.
Julie Schumer’s work has been exhibited across the United States and in Europe. She has studied at the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California and with artists Robert Burridge, Mira White and Edward Gilliam and additionally graduated magna cum laude from UCLA and completed law school. She practices law and works in studio art in Santa Fe, NM.
EDUCATION
1975 Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude, UCLA, Los Angeles
1978 Juris Doctor, Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles, CA
Art Studies at Art Institute, Los Angeles, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, with artists Robert Burridge, Mira White, Bob Winston and Ed Gilliam
selected exibitions
2011 May, group show, Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2010 September, three person show, Matrix Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2010 August, group show1228 Parkway Art Space, Santa Fe, NM
2009 November, group show, Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2009 May, group show, Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2008 November, group show, Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2008 May, group show, Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007 December, group show, Infusion Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2007 October, group show, Marziart, Hamburg, Germany
2007 September, group show Four Starr Gallery, Stonington, Connecticut
2007 September, two person show 1228 Parkway Art Space, Santa Fe, NM
2007 May, group show, Farrell Fischoff Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2007 April, group show, Four Starr Gallery, Stonington, Connecticut
2006 October, two person show, New Editions Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky
2006 June, two person show, Farrell Fischoff Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2006 May, group show, Lyman Allyn Musuem, New London, Connecticut
2006 March, group show, Four Starr Gallery, Stonington, Connecticut
2005 August, two person show, Farrell Fischoff Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2005 May, group show, Farrell Fischoff Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2005 April, two person show, New Editions Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky
2005 March, Emerging Artists Show, Scottsdale, Arizona
2005 January, group show, Farrell Fischoff Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2004 November, two person show, SKF Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2004 April, group juried show, Master Works of New Mexico 6th Annual Spring Arts Show
2003 October, group juried show, 22nd Annual Juried Exhibition, Pastel Society of the Southwest, Dallas, Texas
awards
2003 Award of Merit, Pastel Society of the Southwest, 22nd Annual Juried Exhibition
PUBLICATIONS
2011, American Art Collector Magazine
2010, Pasatiempo, Santa Fe, NM
2010 Tops Magazine, Lexington, Ky
2007 Trend Magazine, Santa Fe, NM
2007, Internationale Kunst, Hamburg
2007, Santa Fe Reporter, Santa Fe, NM
2007, Book Cover, The Meaning of Others, by Ruthellen Josselson, et al., published by the American Psychological Assocation
2006, Stonington Times, Stonington, CT
2006, Pasatiempo, Santa Fe, NM
2005, Albuquerque Journal North, Santa Fe, NM
2005, Arts and Antiques Magazine
2005, "Desert Visions," Nougat Magazine (Lexington, Kentucky, May 15-June 15)
2005, "Beautiful and Without Fences" Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky, May 8)
