Julia Gorman

Spanning two decades, Gorman's multifaceted practice includes sculpture, installation, painting, drawing and public commissions. She is renowned for her use of colour and fluidity of line, with a sense of oscillation between two- and three-dimensionality. With a sense of lightness and spontaneity, Gorman's work is rich in colour and detail, with complex, layered elements. She includes numerous references to art history and pop culture in her work, which can be as ephemeral in material as balloons and cardboard, or as permanent as welded steel.

Gorman has exhibited widely, both internationally and throughout Australia, showing at major institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, and the National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne. Her works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Monash University Museum of Art, and in numerous prestigious private collections.

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01/02/2022 – 19/02/2022

SOMETHING ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE

Julia Gorman’s solo exhibition Something About Something Else is the product of a 2020–21 residency at the Billilla Artists Studio Program, which is housed in a late nineteenth-century art nouveau mansion. The resultant works take their cue from the art nouveau motifs abundant in the mansion and suggest the logic of non-linear histories, while also mediating upon the binary concept of visibility and obscurity. Loose links between moments in history are grounded by Gorman’s invocation of art nouveau, whose demise coincided with the outbreak of World War I, and, as Gorman says, ‘everyone just wanted to be modern after that’. Following the war, avant-garde and modernist practices such as Bauhaus and de Stijl superseded the highly decorative style. When this body of work was made, Gorman was thinking about the fact that we too are in a moment of historical crisis and rupture, catalysed by the COVID pandemic. An abstracted, decorative floral pattern chosen by Gorman for its art nouveau characteristics is a leitmotiv throughout Something About Something Else, operating as a metaphor for the ever-sprawling, opening out of history and time. Significantly, the motif is slightly different between paintings, since Gorman chose a different colour palette for each and because the works are obviously produced by hand, with the scratchy application of oil stick evident throughout. What the viewer also sees in this finish is the speed with which Gorman applied the oil stick. Of course, these works were created between lockdowns and Gorman was obliged to produce with a sense of urgency every time she was granted access to her studio. A more recent collection of large ink drawings, made during the 2022 Omicron wave, were produced in another brief period of intensive creative practice. Gorman’s work communicates the immediacy that the ongoing pandemic has made second nature in our daily activities. To add complexity to this question of historical time, Gorman also introduces a play between visibility and obscurity – this binary is most evident in Gorman’s clay sculptures which, embedded with mesh or shards of coloured glass, grant the gallery visitor only an incomplete, altered view of what lays beyond. If Gorman’s paintings represent the sprawling sense of time, then her sculptures complement this in suggesting time as a kind of sift that lets certain things through and leaves others put. Repetition, speed, slowness and rupture coalesce in Something About Something Else. Ultimately, a varied temporal logic is the exhibition’s central element. Right from the beginning, Gorman’s works inhabit several speeds. Her paintings and sculptures are executed relatively quickly but they take much longer to dry and reach a point of exhibition—the paintings alone take about six months. And then, of course, there is the concept of reaching across time. If art nouveau was the endpoint of a slower (i.e. not machine driven) fashion that was killed by the crisis of the war, then we can jump forward approximately one century to our current period to consider how this pattern might be playing out before our eyes. — Amelia Winata

06/07/2019 – 20/07/2019

LET THINGS SLIP

10/10/2017 – 28/10/2017

ACT CASUAL

20/04/2021

JULIA GORMAN SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 GEELONG CONTEMPORARY ART PRIZE

Julia Gorman has been selected as a finalist in the 2021 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize.

The 2021 Geelong contemporary art prize is a signature event that assists with the development of the Gallery's collection while fostering Australian artists and contemporary painting practice in general.

The winner will be announced on 28 May 2021, with the exhibition on display until 22 August 2021.

Image: Julia Gorman, Fancy free, 2019. Photo: Andre Piguet

19/04/2021

JULIA GORMAN SHORTLISTED IN THE BAYSIDE ACQUISITIVE ART PRIZE

Julia Gorman has been selected as a finalist in the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize.

The Bayside Art Prize is a $15,000 acquisitive prize awarded for a contemporary Australian painting. The judging panel includes Louise Tegart, Director, Art Gallery of Ballarat; Ryan Johnston, Head of Academic Programs, Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne; and Joanna Bosse, Curator, Bayside Gallery.

The exhibition of finalists will be held from 14 May to 4 July 2021.

Image: Julia Gorman, Soft resist, 2019

Showing all 53 artworks

Julia Gorman Light coming through #4 2021 air drying clay, wire mesh and acrylic paint 32 x 32 x 28 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Light coming through #3 2021 air drying clay, wire mesh and acrylic paint 32 x 32 x 31 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Light coming through #2 2021 air drying clay, wire mesh and acrylic paint 31 x 28 x 27 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Light coming through #1 2021 air drying clay, wire mesh and acrylic paint 28.5 x 32 x 31 cm Sold

Julia Gorman In a moment #15 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #14 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #13 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #12 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #11 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm Sold

Julia Gorman In a moment #10 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #9 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #8 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #7 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #6 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #5 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #4 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #3 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #2 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman In a moment #1 2021 oil stick on linen 61 x 46 cm $2,200.00

Julia Gorman Glass half full 2019 spray paint, oil paint, acrylic and oil stick on linen 167.5 x 110.5 cm Sold

Julia Gorman Break up party 2019 spray paint and oil stick on black primed linen 58 x 48 cm Sold

Julia Gorman Jazz killer 2019 oil stick and oil on linen 72 x 55 cm $2,800.00

Julia Gorman Planter 2019 glazed ceramic 36.5 x 56 x 56 cm $2,000.00

Julia Gorman Conversation starter 2019 oil paint and oil stick on linen 86 x 73 cm $3,800.00

Julia Gorman Reform movement 2019 spray paint and oil stick on black primed linen 53 x 47 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Neutral position 2019 spray paint and oil stick on black primed linen 54 x 49 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Cheap Tricks 2019 tinted gesso and spray paint on black primed linen 57 x 47 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman The present 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint and oil stick on linen 72 x 47 cm $2,800.00

Julia Gorman Poetry in a garden 2019 tinted gesso and spray paint on black primed linen 67 x 49.5 cm $2,800.00

Julia Gorman Mystical moment 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint and oil paint on linen 71.5 x 50.5 cm $2,800.00

Julia Gorman Hard resist 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint and oil stick on linen 57 x 50.5 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Better loosen up 2019 oil stick on linen 62 x 55.5 cm $2,800.00

Julia Gorman The curtain opens... 2019 tinted gesso and spray paint on linen 79.5 x 48 cm $3,000.00

Julia Gorman Staying alive 2019 oil paint and oil stick on linen 66.5 x 56.5 cm $2,800.00

Julia Gorman Fancy free 2019 oil paint and oil stick on linen 82 x 56 cm $3,300.00

Julia Gorman Shake the bottle 2019 spray paint, oil paint and oil stick on linen 102 x 52.5 cm $3,500.00

Julia Gorman Perfect posture 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint, oil paint and oil stick on black primed linen 96 x 73 cm $3,800.00

Julia Gorman Soft resist 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint and oil stick on linen 93.5 x 74 cm $3,800.00

Julia Gorman Tropical objects 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint, oil paint and oil stick on linen 102.5 x 72.5 cm $4,000.00

Julia Gorman The many moods 2019 spray paint and oil stick on linen 106 x 80.5 cm $4,000.00

Julia Gorman All my secrets 2019 spray paint and oil stick on linen 105 x 80 cm $4,000.00

Julia Gorman Green genie 2019 tinted gesso, spray paint, oil paint and oil stick on linen 110.7 x 63.5 cm $3,800.00

Julia Gorman Finished object 2017 screenprint printed in one colour from one hand-cut stencil on hand-dyed BFK Rives 300gsm 76 x 57 cm $1,200.00

Julia Gorman Bust out moves 2017 acrylic on plywood 180 x 260 cm $9,500.00

Julia Gorman Energy field in a field of energy 2017 acrylic on plywood 215 x 112 cm Sold

Julia Gorman Back flip 2017 acrylic on plywood 180 x 118 cm $5,500.00

Julia Gorman Spin moves 2017 acrylic on plywood 170 x 119 cm $5,500.00

Julia Gorman Chubby tumbler 2017 acrylic on plywood 200 x 220 cm Sold

Julia Gorman Gathering no dust 2017 acrylic on plywood 94 x 75 cm $2,500.00

Julia Gorman Push and pull 2017 acrylic on plywood 100 x 87 cm Sold

Julia Gorman In the loop 2017 acrylic on plywood 115 x 115 cm $3,500.00

Julia Gorman Tight winding 2017 acrylic on plywood 118 x 118 cm $3,500.00

Julia Gorman Play easy 2017 acrylic on plywood 75 x 105 cm Sold