Axisweb artist of the Month: Abstract painter Julie Umerle on precision, chance and Gerhard Richter

"I spend as much time as I can in the studio on a regular basis. It can vary from week to week, but I'm usually in the studio at least four days a week plus one day a week spent at home doing admin. It really depends on what projects I am working on. But I do try to be structured, to keep in touch with what I'm doing there. I think it's important to have a framework. I've always been a studio-based artist so it's a special place for me and my work and it's where I really feel at home.

I've been a practising artist for more than thirty years, working on paper as well as on canvas, in series that are often open-ended. I've been through many phases with my work in that time, always abstract. When I first started painting I was exploring colour, gesture and composition; then geometry; then it was all about process. Right now I'm interested in mark-making and scale.

One of my pieces, Eclipse, has recently been acquired for the Priseman-Seabrook Collection. That painting encapsulates a particular moment in time. When I have an idea for a series of work, I push that idea as far as I can. Then there comes a time to move on and, yes, you could see that piece as a turning point – moving on to add a little more control to the process and towards the 'drip' paintings that followed.

I'm an abstract painter; my paintings are a combination of precision and chance. I love working with paint, making it do different things and changing my goals and ambitions for the paintings from time to time just to keep it interesting. One of my all-time favourite artists is Gerhard Richter, whose paintings I first saw in Berlin in 1991 and have seen many times since. He is always inspiring. Lots of contemporary painters interest me and I watch to see what they're doing and how they develop.

There are a number of interesting painters working at the moment. Painting has had a real renaissance in recent years, particularly abstract painting, and it is once again very current. It's always exciting when that happens and painting becomes part of the discourse about contemporary art rather than being relegated to the margins. Carla Busuttil, for example, who I met in 2008 at her degree show at the Royal Academy Schools, is an interesting painter. Also Jacqueline Humphries whose work has changed a lot since I first saw it in New York when her paintings were all red drips.

There are far more galleries in the US than in the UK, but then again there are many more artists there too. Finding a gallery to suit your work is just as difficult, wherever you're based
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Over the next few months my paintings can be seen in group shows at Huddersfield Art Gallery, Ipswich Art Gallery, St Marylebone Crypt in London and Swindon Art Gallery.”

Culture24. From a studio interview with Julie Umerle by Lesley Guy. 10 December 2014

Installation View

This is an installation view of my painting 'Blue/Green' hung next to Rivane Neunschwander's 'Oil Spills', a set of pigment prints on paper. The exhibition is on view at Shape Art Gallery, Westfield Stratford City, London until 8th March and you can bid for them online as part of the 'Shape Contemporary Art Benefit Auction' on online auction house Paddle8 until 16 March 2016.

Twenty-five artists have donated work to this charity auction including Tacita Dean, Jeremy Deller and Grayson Perry. In an exciting range of media including painting, print, collage, photography, sculpture and art object, and valued across a broad price range, the donated works, many of them newly-created and not previously exhibited, are set to appeal to a diverse base of collectors, buyers and art lovers. Well worth a look.

Installation View

Shape Benefit Art Auction and Exhibition

Shape Arts will hold a contemporary art benefit auction powered by online auction house Paddle8 from 2 – 16 March 2016 (paddle8.com/auction/shapearts) with an accompanying exhibition at Shape Arts Gallery, 155 The Street, Westfield Stratford City, Stratford, London E20 1EN from 24 February – 8 March 2016.

To be auctioned are 25 works generously donated by a number of internationally acclaimed artists in recognition of Shape Arts’ 40th anniversary this year, and the continued importance of the organisation’s work in pushing for a more inclusive and accessible arts sector for disabled people. 

Artworks have been donated by Bedwyr Williams, Ben Cain, Bernar Venet, Candida Höfer, Christian Furr, Dora García, Erwin Wurm, Franko B, Grayson Perry, Greg Bartlet, Guy Yanai, Hans Op de Beeck, Hito Steyerl, Hormazd Narielwalla, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Jeremy Deller, Julie Umerle, kennardphillipps, Ragnar Kjartansson, Rivane Neuenschwander, Sophie Ryder, Stuart Semple, Tacita Dean and Unskilled Worker. 

This is the painting that I shall be donating for this very good cause:

'Blue/Green', Acrylic on canvas. 18 x 18in.
© Julie Umerle

St Marylebone Parish Church

Contemporary British Painting

Arts Council England Award

Early this year I received an award from Arts Council England for a period of research and development in my practice. This is an update on my project.

Over the last few months, I have focused upon exploring two issues: mark-making and scale. Below are four of the images from my 'Rewind' series of paintings that have resulted from this investigation. These paintings are each 55 x 55cm. Acrylic on unprimed canvas.

Having now completed a further series of new paintings, I am currently working on a triptych of acrylic on polyester. Everything is going to plan with my project and I look forward to sharing it with you at an exhibition space when it is complete. I look forward to having your feedback.

 Rewind (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

Rewind II (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

Rewind III (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

Rewind IV (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

DACS Foundation Auction

This September, I will be one of a number of artists supporting DACS Foundation, a new charity set up by DACS to support contemporary visual art in the UK. I'm delighted to donate one of my paintings for their forthcoming benefit auction at Paddle8. Bids can be placed online until 9.30pm, Thursday 24 September 2015. The proceeds will importantly go towards funding a range of new initiatives supporting artists in legacy planning and archive management, education and a public programme supporting the continued appreciation of art and its value to society.

Fifty-six artists including Susan Hiller, Ryan Gander and Yinka Shonibare MBE are donating artwork to raise funds for the Foundation's initiatives through the online auction.

Furthermore, seven works will be auctioned by Christie's on 23 September 2015 including artists Richard Wentworth, Billy Childish, Angela de la Cruz, Tracey Emin and Chantal Joffe. The majority of the works (including my painting) will be auctioned on Paddle8 from 10 - 24 September 2015.

All the works will be exhibited in an end of auction party on the evening of 24 September 2015 at Londonewcastle Project Space in Shoreditch, London. A catalogue is published to accompany the auction.

View my work on Paddle8. I am donating Broken Symmetry III. You can make bids online: https://paddle8.com/work/julie-umerle/78360-broken-symmetry-iii should you wish to support the Foundation. Thank you.

© Julie Umerle