Julia Cooper

Julia constructs spatial tension and relationships between objects to create a quiet, contemplative narrative.

The term Wabi-Sabi represents a Japanese aesthetic and a Japanese world view. It means finding beauty in imperfection, modesty, intimacy or austerity. Julia likes to think of the objects in her still life paintings akin to such an aesthetic, a bit faded and quietly satisfying.

Julia finds herself absorbed in the intricacies of putting colour on surface and trying to create plastic form so that the paint has something to say. Looking closely at the work of William Scott and Patrick Heron along with studying all of Heron’s eloquent writing on other artists she can’t help but be drawn to that fascinating period when the challenge was on to find the ‘new abstraction’. She asks herself if it has all been said already. That’s not the point really and it doesn’t matter because space and colour is just one, long continuous experiment.