5 Questions- Julia Curran
Welcome listeners to 5 Questions: A Critical Mass for the Visual Arts Podcast in which we ask 5 questions of our interviewees aimed at positioning and contextualizing their respective bodies of work within the St. Louis artworld.This episode, we’re talking with Julia Curran.
Julia Curran’s work explores myth, gender constructs, and the excesses of American capitalism.Curran works in the socio-politically conscious tradition of printmaking and combines woodblock print and silkscreen to make vibrant, many-layered compositions. Stylistically, she embraces masters of elaborate grotesque such as Hieronymus Bosch and Henry Darger, absurd caricature of underground cartoonists like Robert Crumb, and the powerful and vulnerable self-portraits of Frida Kahlo. Conceptually, she embraces Betye Saar’s commonly employed phrase “Extreme times call for extreme heroines.” Through highly-crafted compositions meant to both repulse and delight, Curran seeks to deconstruct the stories we tell about ourselves, and to find new meaning in old myths.Curran graduated with an MFA from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Paris, France.She has exhibited in both exhibitions and fairs since 2014 including the EA/B Fair at New York Print Week, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and Rochester Contemporary Arts Center. Her work is currently installed at Gallery 210 as part of the Exposure 21: Three Myths Exhibition.
5 Questions is a program by Critical Mass for the Visual Arts – a nonprofit, self-formed visual arts collaborative dedicated to promoting, enhancing and initiating contemporary visual art in the St. Louis region.
With Julia Curran and Joe Kohlburn
Editor- Sarah Hammond
Producer- Brett Williams
Critical Mass for the Visual Arts 