Julia Phillips

Julia Phillips Between Love and Loss

JULIA PHILLIPS
Between Love and Loss

A compilation of songs by Jessye Norman


The range of works and genres covered on the compilation gave me inspiration to show works of different tones, medium, and work phases together. The coexistence of the dramatic aria sequence from Dido and Aeneas “Thy hand Belinda. When I am laid in Earth” and the uplifting, overcoming Spiritual “Amazing Grace” personally for me reflect the moment of these times and range of emotions that we seem collectively confronted with. I particularly appreciate that the title “Between Love and Loss” addresses a range, rather than a combination of feelings. Drainer II and the two Purifier versions reflect a similar kind of range.

—Julia Phillips

Julia Phillips

Negotiator (#2) 2021
Ceramic, stainless steel, marble

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Julia Phillips

Dance Marks 2014
Monotype

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Phillips’ look at the intersections of race and gender complicates the boundaries between the powerful and the powerless, the liberated and the subjugated, the torturer and the tortured.

—Re’al Christian

Julia Phillips

Mediator II 2021
Ceramic, stainless steel, nylon hardware

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Although many of her works insinuate an idea of functionality due to their titles and mechanical construction, they are not usable due to their ephemeral fragility. The work betrays a delicateness that is not just physical, but also delves much deeper into a social psyche – into which the artist invites her audience.

—Nana Adusei-Poku

Julia Phillips

Drainer II 2021
Ceramic, steel cable, limestone

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Fingers 2013
HD video loop (black and white, silent)

Many of the featured works focus on movement and engagement, such as Negotiator (#2), 2021, a large steel wheel supported by ceramic spokes, and Connection Studies, 2015, a group of four drawings that muse upon the ways physical materials are often joined together. Similarly, traces of movement are inscribed onto the surface of the monotype Dance Marks, 2014, and two videos reference the body in motion.

Julia Phillips

Purifier I 2021
Ceramic, stainless steel

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While much of Phillips’s work has examined the power dynamics at play in external interactions, she has recently started to explore the relationships one has with oneself. A new series of sculptures debuted here, the Purifiers, is influenced by various spiritual practices and illustrates this notion of inward-facing reflection.

Julia Phillips

Purifier II 2021
Ceramic, stainless steel

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The intellectual framework my art originates from lies at the intersection of Black Feminist, Postcolonial, and Psychoanalytic Thought. My sculptural work thinks about relations and relationships. The ideas in my work can be applied to the small scale of interpersonal relationships, up to a larger scale of social relations.

—Julia Phillips

Julia Phillips

Connection Studies 2015
Graphite on paper, four sheets

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Julia Phillips

Destabilizer 2018/2021
Ceramic, stainless steel

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I think part of my desire is to give the psyche a visual, nonverbal language, and a voice that can be heard by a broad range of audiences, ideally. What we do with what we hear is our own responsibility.

—Julia Phillips

Burdened 2018
HD video loop (black and white, silent)

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