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Gummy Chew

Above:
Sugarhair, 2006
oil on panel
22 x 26 x 4 inches

Right:
Sugarflow, 2006
oil on panel
8 x 8 x 2 inches

Left:
Gummy Chew, 2006
oil on panel
8 x 8 x 2 inches

Acting Out
The Art of Julie Durkin By Howard McCalebb
Excerpts Copyright � Howard McCalebb, 2003

Just as the historical perspective shows us how different things once were, and that things will not always be as they are now, the paintings of Julie Durkin demonstrate how participatory and interactive the common culture has been with the historical record. Her art expands with a payload of historical references, of her individual choosing, that are relevant to current cultural conditions, and artistic discourse of today.

Durkin is a restless talent, who grapples with the various currents of thought that are sweeping through the world during her lifetime. Projecting her own inner tumult, her art searches for self-actualization through the morass of relevant histories and contemporary flux. Through her erotic abstract oil paintings we understand that art can help us identify ourselves, and find the touchstones we need for coping with social change. Individuality is extruded, in this case, from a set of cultural peculiarities contrived by the fashion industry, where the exploited consumer is a traumatic example of the individual who is both captive audience and cash cow.

As still a young woman, Julie Durkin�s art signals a shift from the usual art practices of post-adolescent zaniness and perpetual youth rebellion, by connecting it to an attitude that is more sophisticated, reality based, and grown up. Because popular culture is participatory and interactive, all persons help to transfigure it. Her art is, in this way, a responsive phenomenon, in which she is a natural (human) participant, within the culture of her lifetime.

3.Sugar Smooth

Above:
Makebelieve
oil on panel
16 x 16 x 4 inches

Sugar Rush (three-quarter view), 2006
oil on panel
16 x 16 x 4 inches

Left:
Sugar Smooth, 2006
oil on panel
26 x 22 x 4 inches