The Devotional Art of Julie-Ann Bowden
December 23, 2008 by DaveT · Leave a Comment
Julie-Ann’s work is special to us at ‘Cristus’, and has been part of our plans from the beginning. To know the artist, is to know her work. No doubt we are all shaped by our experiences, but whereas we might try to shroud ourselves in mystery, Julie-Ann proclaims her past, in her words and in her paintings. She openly tells of her difficult childhood, feeling like an outsider, being left-handed and writing backwards with her right hand. But always, she says, her artistic gifts saw her through, giving her solace and an inner confidence that there was something she could do well. In competitions at school she excelled at life drawing, then at A Level she achieved the highest grade in Graphic Design, followed by more success studying Illustration at The Northern School of Creative Art. She had overcome disadvantage and low expectations and she determined that one day she would become a full-time artist. This is the spirit that drives her art.
Cristus is not a faith-based gallery, but we admire the purity of vision that can come from absolute conviction. Something we do claim, however, is to be a contemporary gallery, which may seem at odds with Julie-Ann’s iconic angel paintings, clearly rooted in Christian imagery from medieval to pre-Raphaelite to American folk art. What’s more, in her desire to express ’pure love and beauty through art’, one may see a contradiction with a contemporary aesthetic that seeks to challenge the notion that beauty - if it can be found at all - somehow equates to quality. Certainly, it is an area to debate… and we have debated it here, long and hard. The result is that we have placed Julie-Ann in the same small space as the more-overtly challenging artworks, such as Jon Mayer’s dark and forbidding ‘Cor kack A Chavvy’ etchings. Contrast them. Both artists have something big to say, that they wish to share. See beneath the soft beeswax finish of Julie-Ann’s paintings, into the serene faces of the angels. See into their black eyes. Is this a vision of ‘pure love’?
