Biography

American-born artist Julie Umerle lives and works in London's East End. She studied painting at Falmouth University, Cornwall (achieving a 1st Class Hons degree), followed by an MFA at Parsons School of Design, New York City, where she graduated in 1998.

 

Umerle is an award-winning artist who has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. She is a contemporary abstract painter whose work is represented in public and private collections worldwide including Deutsche Bank, The Connaught and Pinsent Masons, as well as a number of museum collections. Umerle  makes work that explores the processes of abstract painting. Her practice is an investigation of materials and perception of the image.

 

She paints in series that are consistently open-ended, exploring similarity, repetition and difference within each group of work. Her recent collection of paintings, an ongoing series,  explore  contemporary geometric abstraction through the parameters of geometry, space, colour and scale. She has been artist-in-residence at The Marriott Hotel in Canary Wharf, London since 20`17. Her memoir 'Art, Life and Everything' was published in 2019 to critical acclaim. 

 

Selected exhibitions

2023   Sotheby's, Palais Oppenheim, Cologne (forthcoming)

2022   Five Needle Five Wire, Thameside Gallery, London 

2021   Recent Paintings, Bermondsey Project Space, London (solo show) 

2021   Make It Blue, W1 Curates, Flannels, Oxford Street, London

2020  The Hampshire Art Show, Nadia Waterfield Fine Art, Andover, Hampshire

2019   Future Now, Aesthetica Art Prize, York Art Gallery, York

2019   Made in Britain, National Museum of Poland, Gdansk

2019   A Book About Death, Islip Art Museum, New York  

2018   Another World curated by Tracey Emin, Deutsche Bank Lounge, Frieze, London

2018   In Residence, The Marriott Canary Wharf, London (solo show)   

2018   Beyond The Surface, The Crypt, Marylebone, London

2017   Contemporary Masters from Britain, Yantai Art Museum, China (touring)  

2017   Creekside Open selected by Alison Wilding, APT Gallery, London

2016   Rewind, Art Bermondsey Project Space, London (solo show)

2016   Scope Art Show, Miami Beach, Florida

2015   Dacs Foundation Auction, Londonnewcastle Project Space, London

2015   Contemporary British Watercolours, Maidstone Museum, Kent (touring)

2015   Present Tense, Swindon Art Gallery, Wiltshire

2014   Contemporary British Painting, Huddersfield Art Gallery, Yorkshire   

2014   Art Converters, studio1.1, London

2012   Art of Angel, Angel Underground Station, Islington, London

2011   Unearthed, Warton House, Stratford, London

2011   Fire Station Centenary, Acme Studios, London

2010   Cosmos or Chaos, studio1.1, Shoreditch, London (solo show) 

2010   Art Miami, Caridi Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida

2009   Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2009   London Art Fair, Contemporary Art Projects, London

2009   Postcards from the Edge, Metro Pictures, New York, NY 

2008   Start Your Collection, Contemporary Art Projects, Shoreditch, London

2008   Ten Paintings, DMH Stallard LLP, London (solo show)

2008   00 Nature, Contemporary Art Projects, Shoreditch, London

2007   Art in Mind, Brick Lane Gallery, London

2007   Arts Unwrapped, Acme Fire Station, London

2006   Below the Radar, Mantra Art, London

2005   Art4life, Christie's, King Street, London

2003   Four Artists, Woolff Gallery, London   

2003   Summer Show, Woolff Gallery, London

2002   Art4lilfe, Christie's, King Street, London

2001   Summer Show, Blue Gallery, Shoreditch, London

1999   14th Street Painters, Earl Gallery, New York

1998   a to b drawing salon,  Cameron Weiland, New York
1998  MFA exhibition, Brenda Taylor Gallery, New York

1997  Night of 1000 drawings, Artists Space, New York

1997  Generations, AIR Gallery, New York

1996  Cabinet show,  Blue Gallery, Chelsea, London

1996  PICACOC 3, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia

1996  British Abstract Art: Part 3, Flowers Galleries, London

1995  Recent Paintings, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry (solo show)

1995  The London Group, Barbican Centre, London

1995  Fear of Flatness, Atlantis Gallery, London

1995  Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Christie's, London

 

Selected Awards

2021   Acme Studio Practice Fund

2021    Arts Council England Award

2015    Arts Council England Award

2008   Arts Council England Award

2007   Arts Council England Award

2005   Arts Council England Award

2001   Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award