C/O Gallery Berlin

Antonymdimension
Site-Specific Artwork 2020

“Colors are emotions to me. They shock and fascinate me at the same time. They constantly challenge me to mediate between the dominance of colors and the sensuality of painting.” – Julia Benz

Radiant colors, dynamic-abstract forms combined with figurative motifs and the use of various materials: Julia Benz’s installation “Antonymdimension” invites exploration and a playful interchange of perspectives. Through the mounted plexiglass panels, reflections are created, merging the surroundings and the viewers with the exhibition space. Especially for C/O Berlin, Julia Benz has reoccupied the space for one year and interwoven her room-filling wall painting with elements of street art that follow an associative and intuitively new, and different rhythm from that of the street. The tension arises from the mixture of materials: acrylic paint is combined with spray paint. The designed surfaces evoke signs, tags, and other elements of street art and extend into the three-dimensional space through the use of several double-sided painted plexiglass panels. Benz’s painting, as a classical reference space and original medium, remains clearly recognizable.

Julia Benz (*1985) studied painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Universität der Künste Berlin under Burkhard Held and completed her master’s degree. Benz has exhibited her works in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including recent ones such as “Out of Mind. Just in Time 2019” in Vienna, “Between the Lines” in Cologne, and has realized projects for the Goethe Institutes in Helsinki (Finland) and Khartoum (Sudan). Julia Benz lives and works in Berlin.

Julia Benz’s presentation is the sixth artistic position within C/O Berlin’s extended spatial and exhibition concept at the Amerika Haus, following Christian Jankowski (2019), Gregor Hildebrandt (2018), Brigitte Waldach (2017), Karsten Konrad (2016), and Michail Pirgelis (2015).

Foto: David von Becker

©2023 Julia Benz

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