Julie Curtiss

I’m interested in systems building themselves and falling apart, in the cycle of chaos and order, and in the moment when something is pushed to its breaking point.
—Julie Curtiss

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Julie Curtiss, opening at the gallery at 9 rue de Castiglione in Paris on April 3, 2025. It is the artist’s first solo exhibition with Gagosian, and in Paris.

In her acrylic and oil compositions, Curtiss distills the familiar into enigmatic scenes, transforming seemingly banal moments through exaggerated forms, saturated color, and rich textures. Her figures, faceless or seen in fragments, are frozen in dreamlike pauses, amplifying a sense of unease. Drawing inspiration from Jungian psychoanalysis, Curtiss synthesizes her surreal visions into images that explore the clash between anima and animus, nature and nurture. She juxtaposes signifiers of domesticity with allusions to the shadow selves and animalistic drives that pulse beneath her subjects’ skins.

In the Flow (2025) depicts a dark-haired woman clad in a purple-and-black Lycra jumpsuit and augmented reality glasses riding an exercise bike, surrounded by an environment that suggests confinement. The scene unfolds as if viewed through a glass tank filled with tropical fish, vegetation, and rocks. The out-of-frame edges create the illusion that the woman herself is underwater, merely another creature on display. A coexistence of multiple levels of containment is implied as perspectives shift and differ between the viewer, the unknown figure, and the tangential reality to which she has exclusive access.