JULIE JABLONSKI

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am curious about the ways we walk around in our shoes, as informed by our degree of self-awareness and social connection.  An underlying premise of my artwork is that the nature of one’s relationship to self, others and environment, defines how we respond to and shape our circumstances.   My concern as an artist is to untangle the socio-political effects of human (dis)connectedness in the 21st century.  I explore the ego-, ethno- and anthropocentric biases (as cultivated through disconnection), that manifest in predatory power structures, acts of oppression, and a sense of disembodiment.   I mine themes of cultural and personal identity, technology and nature, for understanding of how we place one foot after the next, or not, in our post-truth era.  Ultimately, my goal is to create socially responsible art that values human and earthly dignity and seeks a measure of healing through confrontation and decoding. 

As a conceptual multi-disciplinary artist, I exploit the literal and symbolic aspects of materials and subject matter; often incorporating found objects and imagery from pop culture and mass media in dramatic groupings.  In my hunt to adequately capture an idea, I allow for generous experimentation with style and technique, resulting in an innovative visual language that intersects with conceptual puzzles and is sometimes seasoned with a pinch of absurdity.  I use distortion, fantastical abstraction, recontextualization, simplification, juxtaposition, symbolism, humor and myth to create anxiety-laden vignettes, with glimpses of hope and antidote/respite strewn throughout.