Julia (Jools) Bland is a versatile artist, using painting, collage, photography, film, music and installations to create exhibitions that merge with the space they are held in. Born in Melbourne but now living in the country, she remains passionate about the city. The city screams at you, she says, not so much by the typical noise of traffic and people, but it screams at you visually, through signs, advertisement, logo’s, text, graffiti, window displays and other images designed to attract our attention. Travelling the world she always brings her camera to capture the noises, the visual catches of the cities she visits. Later she uses these images to create artistic statements about her relation to the urban life. Jools says about this:
Today, I find myself influenced and enamored by Pop Art, in particular artists such as Richard Hamilton, Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Prince. I have been to New York twice in the last year to absorb the atmosphere, walking the streets day and night taking photographs. My camera is constantly trained at what is often overlooked by others: the wonderful graffiti that graces the rough brick walls around the back streets of the Meatpacking district, the street market stalls in Chinatown and Little Italy, the peeling posters and the water towers atop buildings in Tribeca.
In New York, everywhere you look you are bombarded by noise and information. It is possible to be advertised at, sold to, harassed, propositioned, detained, honked at, lectured, policed or abused on every street corner, every day. For a person who adores the wide open spaces of the country, I find it a little baffling that I am so passionate about New York. The truth is, I find the noise of the city soothing and comforting, even road works that continue all through the night. When I am standing on a busy street corner watching a police car muscle its way through traffic, lights flashing and siren blazing, I feel completely happy.
I find that in New York, or any urban metropolis really, it is not only the noises I hear that impacts on me, but also what I refer to as ‘visual noise’. I want to explore the concept of ‘visual noise’ and how it can be intrusive, ugly and in some cases down right belligerent, and yet when presented in a different way, it is possible to become soothing, aesthetically pleasing or even beautiful. In my art I reflect aspects of New York that I have chosen to embrace such as the subway graffiti, back alleys, busy streets and used car lots. For me, every New York street is a different visual feast and the combinations, interpretations and possibilities for them are simply endless.
Jools lives at the foot of Mt. Macedon in country Victoria with her husband, arctic explorer Peter Bland and their three children. She works in a giant old stable that would suit perfectly in Stephen King movie. The eeriness of the place gives an instant feel of transformation, and combined with the loud music she plays to get inspired and get the adrenaline going, it’s a brilliant space to let the imagination run free and create monumental works.
