Julie Alpert
November 18, 2019
Julie Alpert's work manifests the language and vernacular of post-pop contemporary abstract painting into jubilant, dramatic, 3-dimensional stage settings awash with nostalgic color palettes. She uses quotidian materials to create temporary, site-specific installations that ultimately survive only in documentation and memory. While not strictly a painter, Alpert's inclusion on 52 Critical Painters makes sense not only for the way her meticulously crafted environments reference painting and its history, but also because her practice itself is rooted in painting. "Both my degrees are in painting and I spent high school acting in all the plays and musicals," she explained via email. "I think I'm attempting to combine these two loves."
Special Occasion, site-specific installation at Museum of Craft and Design, wood, paint, craft paper, tape, marker, colored pencil, found objects, cardboard, 2019
from Special Occasion, site-specific installation at Museum of Craft and Design, wood, paint, craft paper, tape, marker, colored pencil, found objects, cardboard, 2019
In Special Occasion, a recent installation at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, we see a collection of purple drip shaped shelves flanked by two floor-standing pop-art shrub shapes. They each seem to have an illusionistic painted cast shadow, coupled with a dramatic shadow from the spotlight above. Alpert's work is full of these and other tongue-in-cheek painting jokes. "I want people to see the installation as one large visually satisfying composition and then move in closer to discover small moments of humor and illusion."
FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS AND BEADED CURTAINS, site-specific installation at NMSU Las Cruces Art Gallery, craft paper, duct tape, colored pencil, marker, wood, paint, seamless backdrop paper, 2019
DISCARDED MEMORABILIA OF STRANGERS, site-specific installation at NMSU Las Cruces Art Gallery, wood, paint, found-objects, framed original drawings, 2019
Discarded Memorabilia of Strangers was installed at NMSU Las Cruces Art Gallery as part of a 2-person show with her husband, artist Andy Arkley. It is a collection of borrowed nostalgia, bright patterns, and drippy shapes. On one shelf sits a picture of a cat looking in a mirror (cleverly, the bottom of the mirror reflects the painted pattern on the wall). Cats (or at least pictures of cats) are near universally adored but only loved uniquely by their human caretakers— much in the same way a stranger's discarded memorabilia may be adored, but an important personal connection, one that is often bittersweet, is missing. "Nostalgia isn't just the remembering of something in the past, but a remembering through rose-colored glasses, basking in a memory."
SPLAT!, site-specific installation at Archer Gallery, Clark College, wood, paint, paper, string, lights, vinyl, tape, 2015
Photo: Dan Kvitka
SPLAT!, site-specific installation at Archer Gallery, Clark College, wood, paint, paper, string, lights, vinyl, tape, 2015
Photo: Dan Kvitka
SPLAT!, a 2015 installation at Clark College's Archer Gallery features minimal pop patterns overtaking vintage framed representational paintings. The patterns float freely, humorously, obscuring equal parts wall, frame, and painting. This and much of her work seems to answer the question, "what if a painting came to life?"
VANITY PARTY MY, MY, MY, site-specific installation at The MacDowell Colony, house paint, craft paper, duct tape, photocopies, cardboard, plastic bags, found furniture, 2016
Since January, Alpert has been a fellow in the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, which brought her to Tulsa, OK from Seattle. And she has just been invited to stay for a second year in 2020! Julie will have a solo show at ahha Tulsa in March 2021. Follow her on Instagram to keep in touch! @julie_alpert
