Julia Schwartz

Lives and works in El Cerrito, CA, USA

Artist statement

Using paint on canvas and linen as well as repurposed domestic materials from inherited archives, art depicts my situation- the geographic, the emotional, the existential, the state of the world- and how I make sense of it. These days that means trying to make sense of the senselessness of the everyday world and its outsized ‘seismic disasters’ including personal loss and grief as well as profound political and cultural fragmentation and environmental collapse. I have always liked Keats’ idea of “negative capability;” this is quite compatible with being essentially self-taught, although my colleagues remind me that all of us are always learning on the job. Still, without benefit or burden of formal “technique” in art-making, I am comfortable with doubt, uncertainty, the freedom to explore materials and methods, and an infinite freedom to fail.

Artwork