Art Lies, Volume 23, Summer 1999 Page: 40
60 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Julie Speed
AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART
AUSTIN
by Jeanne Claire van RyzinJulie Speed manifests her own singular and
ambiguous world. Uncertainty is the crux
here. Visionary and luminous, Speed's exquis-
itely rendered and intimately scaled oil paint-
ings are still-life dreams, snapshot glimpses of
the subconscious, uneasy imagined tableaux
charged with a dose of subdued irony.
"Queen of My Room: A Survey of Work
by Julie Speed, 1989-1999," organized and
presented at the Austin Museum of Art, is the
first museum exhibition for this Austin artist
who is probably recognized more outside of
Texas than within. Accompanied by a fully-
illustrated catalogue, the show will travel to
The Dallas Visual Art Center, The Galveston
Arts Center and the South Texas Institute for
the Arts through Fall 2000.
Speed's work is deceptively familiar. Odd
juxtapositions of subjects and objects and her
recurring three-eyed visages recall surrealism.
Yet there's the soft intensity of color and the
decided compositional arrangements-tele-
scoped landscapes, figures formerly posed
from the waist up against dark, color-satu-
rated fields-so reminiscent of early
Renaissance masters. Her genius arises from
her seamless blending of, a multitude of art
historical styles which she refashions into her
own peerless mark.
Figures wear clothing attributable to
many historical eras though specific to none.
Some figures don religious or royal vestments;
others wear white outfits vaguely reminiscent
of hospital garb. They appear in a state of
confusion or distress yet nearly all simultane-
ously project some measure of serenity.
Edginess abounds. Fire erupts on the horizon
or from the pages of a book or from a
woman's head. Tornadoes and storms menace
in the distance. A frog perches strangely on a
subject's head. A monkey on a leash sits in a
wall nook while two women-one with a
bandaged hand, the other with three eyes-
play cards at a table.
Indeed it's difficult to tell where exactly
these people seem to be and who exactly they
are. They inhabit broad, vague landscapes or
close-quartered rooms which often sport
fanatical diagrammatic drawings covering the
40 ARTLIES SUMMER 1999walls and ceilings. These figures could be any
place though seem more properly no place at
all-a possibly circumscribed and confining
space, but also some place which one is free
to leave.
For all their psychic foreboding, Speed's
scenes are subtly sardonic. And Speed hides
her puns in maddening details. Peer closely at
the mass of writing and drawings surrounding
the sole female figure in The Chalkboard and
read whimsical, sardonic epigrams such as
"Unencumbered with thought, she thought
life was a lark," or "His body is a temple. His
mind is an abandoned tuna canning factory."
In Forgiving the Goat a Latin phrase hovers
above a goat's head as a three-eyed cleric
blesses it; translated, it reads "ignorant goat."
Yet though specific in detail, Speed's
paintings leave the viewer with only ambiva-
lent clues. She plumbs the uncertainties of the
unconscious, and mines the depth of imagi-
nation, to create singular images from which a
myriad of narratives can be derived and a
multitude of interpretations can arise.
Ultimately we must delve into our psyches to
create our own, private conclusions of Speed's
works. And that's because for Speed, the truth
can be many things. O),
C___ iRaychelle Schaudies
Affliction Blue, 1999
Acrylic, graphite on canvas
60"x 60"
Photo: From the collection of
Toby Shor & Kenton McDonaldJulie Speed
Playing for the Monkey, 1998
Oil on board
22"x 30"
Photo: Courtesy of the Austin Museum of Art
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Lightman, Victoria H. Art Lies, Volume 23, Summer 1999, periodical, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228053/m1/42/?q=%22Bryant%2C+John%22: accessed May 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .