Julia Kottal - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
My art incorporates personal reflection of my life both past and present. There is a strong connection to the land for many reasons.
Life experiences are one reason I am attracted to landscapes and why they are important to the visual component of my art. I grew up in very rural Michigan. I remember clearly riding to towns and farms through endless fields of corn and soybeans. Retracing routes of the roads to nearby towns and villages, seeking patterns in the crops and fields and gazing at endless vistas and horizons are memories forever etched.
The experience of living in the San Francisco bay area, Maryland, Florida and now back in the Midwest, has given me a wondrous appreciation of the earth’s diversity and vastness. Traveling both by motor and by plane has let me see the contrast and interesting layout of the earth. I relish the rich colors of the fields, the patterns of the earth and mysterious horizon, but I am also drawn to the flat surface of the landscape and it’s laid out squares and grid that you see from above looking straight down. I am currently fascinated to the ‘still’ or ‘still life’, quality of our environment. A feeling of nostalgia or reminisce of a moment, a look, a still life, capturing that split second of a snapshot. I wish to convey a view of organic earth from a different perspective. The view, either looking down from the sky or out across the horizon, is essential to the composition. The combination of the two views are frequently interplayed and sometimes omitted, creating an offbeat perspective in each.
For the current work, I have developed play lists of music from symphonic, global contemporary jazz, classical jazz piano, symphonic concertos and ensembles, and eclectic rock to accompany the pieces. This music was provided by my friends, musical and artistic, and supplemented by my own collection, to additionally inspire my work. I painted what I consider, ‘still life’, abstract landscapes while listening to these play lists.
Artists who have had influence on my painting are Richard Diebenkorn, for his philosophy of space and light, Henri Matisse for his brilliant use of pattern and color, Mark Rothko’s color field paintings, Wayne Thiebaud, for his use of thick, luscious paint and Marvin Cone’s ability to capture the volume of the sky. Other artists that I admire are Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, Willem De Kooning, Clifford Stills, Alice Nee, Lee Krasner.
For more information on Julia Kottal's work, including what we might have in stock, please email or call us at 1-877-439-6554.
julia kottal
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