Location: Netherlands
Julia Winter - NL/RU b. 1965 in Moscow, Russia Lives in Amsterdam, TheNetherlands.
Statement :
The juxtaposition of different worlds is a recurrent theme in my works. I use opposites like male female, past-present or guilt-innocence and transmute them into a poetic or sometimes in a more political reality.
In the deconstruction of the original image and the reconstruction of a new one I involve a collective memory and a new perception of history .Time (past-present) is one of the quintessential features of my works. I create transitions from one reality to another and from the present to the past.
The series of portraits "PresentPast" are in a way three dimensional works and consist of two layers of photos combined in one frame. One photo on glass of a modern person is partly covering another photo of a portrait from the past. In this way I transform the faces and show that every reality is related to time and needs to be perceived without prejudices.
In Robert Musils magnum opus Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man without Qualities) the writer describes his protagonist in a satirical way as a man who is a conformist within the context of a collapsing and chauvinistic imperial system of Austria in the interbellum. This comes to mind looking at Julia Winter's series of her 'Under-cover'. She paints her undercover men in slick, fashionable clothes. Exactly what business men, football players, politicians and criminals would like to see themselves. They are the James Bonds of our society who protect the system, but lack any identity. The systems love these clerks who perfectly represent the system. They sympathises and support the system without any critical comment or controversial attitude.
The combination with the covers of books juxtaposes the 'non-content' of their existence to 'high scientific or cultural' values that is represented in the books. This juxtaposition is the critical and satirical comment on the modern version of the 'Apparatchik'.
Under-cover. She paint men walking or standing in suits or she depicts parts of their clothes. It shows how important for a group of men the suit is as a symbol of power or prestige and even as a tool to display a certain kind of sexy attractiveness. It seems to be the outfit for the perfect servant of a system or organisation and it is a perfect way of concealing ones identity. The type of man who is extremely hiding his own identity is the undercover. The undercover is the spy or the infiltrator who is employed by a system to collect data and transmit them. In our digitalized society we know how we are controlled by powers that infiltrate in our private life in order to control any kind of possible opposition or competition.
The combination with the covers of books juxtaposes the 'non-content' of their existence to 'high scientific or cultural' values that is represented in the books. This juxtaposition is the critical and satirical comment on the modern version of the 'Apparatchik'.
“Under-cover1”
“Under-cover”
“Under-cover2”
