The question on the origins, the interconnections and the tangible madness of life, developed over time into the focus of my artistic practice. My works search for life down to its smallest elements, social correlations and wondrous figments. The in-depth...
Read MoreThe question on the origins, the interconnections and the tangible madness of life, developed over time into
the focus of my artistic practice. My works search for life down to its smallest elements, social correlations and
wondrous figments. The in-depth engagement with the human experience implies dealing with the beautiful
and the ugly, the reasonable and the absurd.
In my works, I tend to play with the random textures of less controllable materials such as ink and
watercolors. Building on these basic structures, I associatively elaborate representational or abstract forms to
create peculiar worlds in a painting. In this process I look for symmetry and balance in the arbitrary. In times
of an ever-increasing digitalization, which leaves little room for the uncontrollable and unpredictable, I find it
especially compelling when my works evolve in unexpected ways. A slight obsession with a meticulous
incorporation of the smallest details, draws me into long and thorough dialogues with what is to be
processed in a painting.
Julia Katolla is a mixed media artist, raised in Costa Rica and based in Bonn, Germany. She has worked
illustrating for the literary journal Kopfsalat (2009 – 2011, Germany), organising art projects in Mexico (2011 -
2013) and pursuing independent photographic work for an itinerant exhibition in Italy (2013, 2014).
She received artistic training in painting, photography and ceramics at the University of Bonn (2015 - 2017)
followed by fine art project studies at the arte fact academy in Bonn, Germany (2019 - 2021).
Her exhibitions include galerie asterisk* (2018), BLINK BRLN Collective (2021) and Haze Gallery (2024) in Berlin, the
Brotfabrik in Bonn (2023), The Holy Art Gallery in London, UK, as well as the London Art Biennale (2021), where she was awarded the International Confederation of Art Critics Award.
Since June 2022, she has been a
member of the Spilt Milk Gallery CIC in Edinburgh.
In April 2023, Katolla opened her solo exhibition "Phantomschmerz - Verletzt, Verwoben, Vernarbt" at the
annual gallery and museum night Nachtansichten in Bielefeld, Germany.
