Exploring the Metaphysical: The Art of Julie Gladstone
Mondrian Electric Storm, oil on panel
Julie Gladstone is an artist based in Toronto. In her current practice, Julie works in painting, sculpture, and installation, creating works that utilize an abstracted aesthetic along with a bright, cool colour palette, exploring the metaphysical through observation.
Full Body Rainbow Shield, oil on panel
I really enjoy Julie’s paintings -- the artist’s portfolio is packed with series of works each focusing on a certain subject, be it directly figurative, or conceptual. Julie’s series Aura Portraits serves as a nice example of the artist’s approach to more esoteric topics, with the artist painting in oil to produce pieces that neatly subvert the norms of both portraiture and abstraction.
In her sculptures, Julie sometimes tends toward a more directly representational approach. In Anthropocene Vessels, for example, she draws on the detritus of modern human society as subject matter, elevating empty containers and bits of trash to sculptural objects rendered in a wide-ranging palette of pastel hues. The artist’s approach here lends to the sense that one is seeing these objects for the first time, through new eyes.
