Julia Haft-Candell

Artist’s Statement

The combination of unconscious intuitive action and attentive conscious analysis forms the framework of my art, which addresses questions of identity and experience. Through self and social analysis, I have constructed a vocabulary of forms, both historical and personal, through which I communicate an ideology focusing on gender, paradox, movement and the body. I use the tactility of clay, creating sculptures depicting recurrent symbols with adaptable meanings to articulate a greater understanding of the everyday.

By using clay — which is fluid and moldable in its wet state but fires to a hard permanence — I challenge the very concept of change and fluidity these forms aim to embody. Translating, repeating, simplifying and reinventing the casual or insignificant gives weight to unseen details, allowing me to meditate and propose alternatives to definitions dictated by the majority of society.

After reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel “The Left Hand of Darkness” (1969), in which people on the planet Gethen are “ambisexual” with no fixed sex, I became transfixed by the idea of gender fluidity in our own lives. Forms like infinity symbols, combs and chains embody both masculine and feminine traits, symbolizing the existence of all genders, fluid and multiple. In 2017, I created a Glossary of Terms and Symbols, an illustrated guide to these archetypes, describing the personal and political symbolism of each form. Through these shapes, I create a vocabulary for communicating what it might be like to exist in a non-binary world.

Website: juliahaftcandell.com

Biography

Select Solo Exhibitions from 2011-2018

2017
Julia Haft-Candell: the infinite, Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2014
Fast and Slow, Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA

2013
Terrains, ACME., Los Angeles, CA

2011
Julia Haft-Candell at ACME, ACME, Los Angeles, CA

Select Group Exhibitions from 2011-2016

2018
Melting Point, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2017
Brightsiders, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA

2016
No Rules, No Rules, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY

2013
Farewell Ruins, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX

Select Community-based Artwork

2016
Denim Chain on Trees, Installed at the Bowtie Project, in collaboration with Clockshop and California State Parks, Los Angeles, CA

2015
Sculptures on the Roof, Rosslyn Studios, Los Angeles, CA

Select Fellowships and Awards

2012
Investing in Artists Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA
Artists’ Resource for Completion Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA

2011
Hoff Foundation Grant, Huntington Beach, CA

2010
Award for Distinguished Achievement in Creative Activity, California State University, Long Beach

Education
Resident, 2016
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME

M.F.A., 2010
California State University Long Beach

B.A., 2005
University of California Davis