Artist Feature: Julia Mortenson
Do you believe in ghosts?
My mom and grandma have both seen ghosts. The house I lived in from birth to age 2 was supposedly haunted, although obviously I don’t remember it. So yes, I believe in ghosts, though I have yet to see one.
Are there references to Pop culture in your work? Why?
My art is informed by influences on my generation. There are subtle stylistic references to pop culture in this body of work and more deliberate ones in my other works, because I don’t believe there is anyone free of influence from their culture. American culture these days is pop culture. People attach themselves to styles and character that they relate to, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing (although many people take it way too far).
Is there a smell that you like that most people don't?
I love the smell of chlorine. As a kid I jumped at every opportunity to go swimming, even in tiny crowded hotel pools so saturated with chlorine that it made my skin peel. I still feel the urge to swim every time I smell it, even after 4 years as a swim teacher.
Julia is a painter and graphic artist who explores depth, seduction, and danger in her artworks. In her current works she is inspired by her job as a professional mermaid performer, and through her cartoonish stylized paintings, she explores the current human obsession with fantastical stories and mythical characters, and how far people will go to become something unreal. We learn to shut off our survival instincts in order to appeal to the audience behind the proverbial (or literal) glass, and pay the price behind the scenes. What is the cost of portraying an attractive myth?
Julia Mortenson was born in 1996 in Wyoming and has lived in Colorado for most of her life. She received her Associates of the Arts degree from Pikes Peak Community College and Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Her art has been featured in the GOCA downtown Colorado Springs, and the ENT center for the arts.
Julia Mortenson, Submerged Sublime 2 of 3, 18x24”, 2020.
See the work of Mortenson and her fellow UCCS VAPA Seniors by following their virtual exhibition Apparition. To be featured @vauccs April through May 2020, along with many other student exhibitions that have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
