Born in Paris in 1989, Juliette Sturlèse lives and works between Berlin, Germany and Sheffield, UK. An interest in the transportive capacities of colour, shape, and light guide the artist’s practice, which takes the form of large-scale abstract paintings rendered with oil and beeswax. Sturlèse is interested in the non-linear poetics of memory, particularly how the past bubbles into the future, and how sensory experience maps the parameters of personal/interior worlds onto shared/external worlds.
Placing a symbolic emphasis on colour, Sturlèse’s work acts as a cosmic portal into loose associations and landscapes of the mind. Equally meditative and stimulating, her works immediately engage the viewer with their size and vibrancy. Their imagined compositions channel elements of the cosmological, the ecological, and the feminine, possessing a cheeky sensuality that’s bristling with liveness. Through a precise painting process that cultivates dense, texturized colour fields through the application of beeswax, Sturlèse’s works appear like self-contained worlds that glow with their own radiance, inviting us deeper into a subconscious space that defies ready explanation or even understanding.
Sturlèse studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna, and at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee in Berlin. From 2017-2019, she was a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation. Sturlèse has exhibited widely across Europe, with recent presentations including solo shows at ANNKA KULTYS GALLERY in London and REITER in Leipzig, as well as several group shows at REITER in Berlin, Kunstraum Konrad in Puschberg, Austria, and Sabine Knust KUNZ in Munich.
EDUCATION
2019 Meisterschülerin with prof. Nader Ahriman, Weissensee academy of art, Berlin (DE)
2018 Diploma in painting, Werner Liebmann and Pia Linz, Weissensee academy of art, Berlin
2015-2016 Erasmus – Year abroad, Mimar Sinan school of fine arts, Istanbul, (TR)
2013-2012 Guest student, academy of fine arts of Bologna, class of Simone Pelegrini, Bologna, (IT)
2007-2011 Master 1 in law, Droit privé, University of Paris La Sorbonne and CAVEJ, (FR)
GRANT / OTHER
2017-2018 The German Academic Scholarship Foundation, (DE)
2018 Making ways, artists program, mentored by Paul Morrison, Sheffield (UK)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023
A green mouse was running through the grass, Annka Kultys gallery, London, (SOLO)
Cacotopia 07, Gallery Annka Kultys, London, groupshow with Ana Benavides, Jesse Draxler, Lennart Grau, Florïne Ïmo, Rachel de Joode, Sam King, Signe Pierce, Emerson Pullman, Kora Moya Rojo, Juliette Sturlèse, Vickie Vainionpää, Addie Wagenknecht
2022
The night will tell us, Gallery REITER | Leipzig, (SOLO)
Oblivion, abundance and Aquarius (the age of), Open space gallery, curated by Amélie Esterhazy, Berlin, group show with David Polzin, Mariechen Danz, Mathias Gramoso, Nik Nowak, Nona, Inescu, Pola Sieverding, Sarah, Ancelle Schönfeld, Simon Mullan, Zoe Claire Miller, Zuzanna Czebatul
Ich gehe im Wald und singe ein Lied, Kunstraum Konrad, curated by Matteo Kramer, Puschberg, Austria, groupshow with Annabell Häfner, Antonia Nannt, Karin Felkel, Lena-Elise Aicher, Media Esfarjani, Nanna Kaiser
2021/2020
Days of heartbreak, curated by Nicola Peter, Pony Royal, Berlin, groupshow with Marjan Baniasadi, Göksu Baysal, Peter Böhnisch, Daniel Correa Mejía, Alexander Denkert, Emily Eldridge, Daniela Elorza, Oska Gutheil, Ekin Su Koç, Flo Maak, Hortensia Mi Kafchin, Kate MccGwire, Christopher Colm Morrin, Dennis Scholl, Anna Steinert, Songwen Sun-von Berg, Özer Toraman
Buddies, gallery R E I T E R | Berlin prospect, duo show with Sophie Ullrich
Feldmalerei, organized by Jana Jedermann, Rohlstorf, Germany – With: Emma Adler, Guillaume Airiaud, Dean Annunziata, Isabelle Fein, Philip Grozinger, Rae Hicks, Nikolaus List, Timur Lukas, Mannuel Resch, Anna Steinert, Juliette Sturlese, a.o.
Je veux ma table!, gallery R E I T E R | Berlin prospect, group show with Hans Aichinger, Carsten, Carsten Goering, Thomas Taube
Open Windows, Square Gallery, London, UK
2019
Vorstellungsgespräche, gallery R E I T E R | Leipzig, group show with Susanne Hofmann, Sophie Ullrich, Christian Holze
Dark Lantern, gallery SABINE KNUST KUNZ, curated by Paul Morrison, München, group show with Jan Albers, Ian Anderson, Heliya Badakhshan, Ralf Brög, Glenn Brown, John Chilver, Koen Delaere, Tim Etchells, Saul Fletcher, Neil Gall, Deme Georghiou, Gerard Hemsworth, Gregor Hildebrandt, Dan Holdsworth, Dale Holmes, Richard Jacobs, Elise Legal, Caroline McCarthy, Paul Morrison, Jost Münster, Daniel Pettitt, Darren Richardson, Bede Robinson, Gary Simmonds, Michael Stubbs, Juliette Sturlese, Jan van der Ploeg, Riette Wanders, Mathew Weir, Eleanor Wright
Perfekte Zustände, Meisterschülerausstellung, X-lane Berlin
2018 and past
Defying Currents, Abschlussausstellung, The shelf, Berlin
Neue Malerei, groupshow, Museum Kesselhaus, Berlin
Playlist, Erratum gallery, Berlin, group show
Bethlehem Boys Club, Sidney and Matilda, Sheffield, UK , groupshow
TO(UND)RA collective/Introduction, Sheffield, group show with Bede Robinson and Élise Legale
Ho2, SEZ, Klasse Werner Liebmann, Berlin , groupshow
YOK, Mimar Sinan Sanatlar Universitesi, Istanbul, Turkey
Cirrus and Capillatus, Haus des Rundfunk, Berlin , Klasse Werner Liebmann