Liberation

Julia Benz

Julia Benz embodies the painting of a new generation through her unmistakable handwriting. She rigorously resists the coolness and rationality of art, which follows a strict formalism and is underpinned by a theoretical context. With an unprecedented directness she demands a new, expressive freedom of painting.

In her mostly large-format works Julia Benz manages to create exciting and complex worlds full of dynamics. Abstract dissolutions of concrete forms and self-confident colour combinations play an important role. “Colours are emotions for me. They shock and fascinate me at the same time. They constantly challenge me to mediate between the dominance of colours and the sensuality of painting.” This ambivalence serves her as inspiration in the working process, in which layers are superimposed, surfaces are continued, supplemented or completely dissolved.

Julia Benz studied free painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and at the Universität der Künste Berlin and graduated as a master student in painting. She lives and works in Berlin.