Julie van Riel – The Slowness of Things

The artist

Julie van Riel (1999) is a Dutch sculptor who lives and studies in Lisbon, Portugal. There, she is studying for a Master’s degree in Glass, Ceramics, Art & Science.

The exhibition

Julie’s work straddles the line between science and intuition, between the tangible and the inexplicable. Through the use of various materials such as glass, ceramics, stone, metals, water and tree seeds, she explores the passage of time.

She experiments with alchemy by working with metals such as copper and iron. In this exhibition, copper gradually changes colour from orange to blue or deep, dark brown shades. She also explores the philosophical significance of the chemical composition of materials such as glass and ceramics. During the glass-blowing process, every tap and breath leaves a mark on the surface. Glass remembers every encounter with matter, light and time. It then fuses into a transparent whole. For Julie, water is the silent driving force behind it all, the power that makes transformation possible. It can dissolve and leave traces by discolouring or eroding material. What was once temporary thus becomes visible and part of eternity.

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The seeds of trees that Julie uses in her work form the key to her art. A seed is never finished. It always exists in an in-between space, between what it was and what it might yet become, between growth and decay. It is this in-between space that Julie seeks out time and again. The alchemical elements in this exhibition, too, are situated within that in-between space. For her, they are not religious objects in the traditional sense, but small spaces she creates to pause for a moment. A space to preserve something or simply to be present. A sandstone altar supports a carob tree. This tree bears a seed associated with the weighing of precious metals and, consequently, with the idea of measure and balance. Other works carry scents: the warm, almost vanilla-like scent of tonka bean, or the strong scent of St John’s wort. In this way, scent makes the invisible present and brings a memory close without being able to hold on to it.

Julie asks questions not to elicit an answer, but to create space for attention and wonder. Experience how, amidst all those slow changes, she, too, is brought to a brief standstill.