Julie Seddon
Julie Seddon is a Canadian painter who relocated from Toronto to Prince Edward County. Since graduating from York University fine arts in 1991, she has consistently painted and exhibited in and around the Toronto Area. For over 20 years she focused on figurative painting, and the last decade has seen a departure to non-figurative abstraction. She made that leap while photographing a store window in the hopes of capturing a vignette of the mannequins inside. The photograph revealed an instant abstraction, combining the interior and exterior of the building, both melting in the glass reflections. Painting from these photographs, aspects of the captured moment become more or less abstracted in the process. This process of capturing a reflection and interpreting it is deeply connected to the artists’ life view. There are moments of intrigue around us every day. It’s our job to recognize the gift that consciousness is. By painting these glimpses of visual alignment, the artist celebrates the visual excitement of unexpected moments. The images point to the coexistence of the human-made and the natural world. By creating thepaintings, the artist attempts to reconcile the dissonance between the two while finding joy and beauty within.
“ My process begins with taking photographs of store windows. Buildings, power lines, trees, sky and the objects and light from the interior converge on the glass creating instant collages of visual information, details fading in and out of each other depending on light and angle. The excitement of the photographs lead me to the paintings, where I can work in representation or abstraction of the composition, most often a combination of both.
I see the surface of the glass with simultaneous reflection of interior and exterior as a metaphor for the process of accepting and discarding information to process versions of reality. The paintings represent the familiarity and mysteriousness of life. The act of painting opens my state of being to be present in the moment and allows the intuitive to take over. I hope to pass on this feeling to the viewer.”