1985 Wittlich, Germany. Julia received her training at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Universität der Künste in Berlin, completing her studies in free painting as a master student in 2015.
Beyond canvas paintings, she ventures into diverse artistic expressions, including works on paper, murals, and wall installations in both private and public domains.
Exploring the multidimensionality of painting, she dissolves concrete forms into abstraction and vice versa within her non-figurative art.
Using acrylic paint, ink, or spray paint, Julia creates high-contrast, multi-layered compositions encompassing painterly, painterly-abstract, and geometric forms. Graphic elements punctuate the flow of colors, delicately balancing clarity and expression.
Her artistic pursuit aims to evoke viewers’ personal associations through abstract intimations, playing with perception, breaking dimensions, and questioning visual levels.
Julia’s work graces solo and group exhibitions across various galleries, and she has contributed to projects and workshops in Sudan, Uganda, Thailand, Finland, France, and Brazil in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.
Beyond studio experimentation, she extends her creativity to large-scale murals, notably in private and public spaces such as the German headquarters of Facebook in Berlin, Paypal Office, and various Amazon offices in Germany.
1985 Wittlich, Germany. Julia received her training at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Universität der Künste in Berlin, completing her studies in free painting as a master student in 2015.
Beyond canvas paintings, she ventures into diverse artistic expressions, including works on paper, murals, and wall installations in both private and public domains.
Exploring the multidimensionality of painting, she dissolves concrete forms into abstraction and vice versa within her non-figurative art.
Using acrylic paint, ink, or spray paint, Julia creates high-contrast, multi-layered compositions encompassing painterly, painterly-abstract, and geometric forms. Graphic elements punctuate the flow of colors, delicately balancing clarity and expression.
Her artistic pursuit aims to evoke viewers’ personal associations through abstract intimations, playing with perception, breaking dimensions, and questioning visual levels.
Julia’s work graces solo and group exhibitions across various galleries, and she has contributed to projects and workshops in Sudan, Uganda, Thailand, Finland, France, and Brazil in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.
Beyond studio experimentation, she extends her creativity to large-scale murals, notably in private and public spaces such as the German headquarters of Facebook in Berlin, Paypal Office, and various Amazon offices in Germany.
The artistic approach of Julia Benz embodies the essence of contemporary paintings of new generation. The young German artist firmly rejects the distant coldness and often associated rationality of theoretical paintings and rigorous artistic formalism. Her quest for new and expressive freedom in painting is dramatically direct, pushing beyond the traditional aesthetic boundaries of both composition and support. The deliberate use of unconventional color palettes – sometimes almost cacophonous – is crucial in defending the artistic intent behind Benz’s works. Additionally, Julia needs to infuse dynamism into the fascinating and intricate worlds of her artistic creations, achieved through strong, gestural brushstrokes intervening explosively, passionately, and sometimes angrily on the polished backgrounds.
The unabashed use of colors and the dissolution of concrete forms into abstract images play a central role in her work.
“Colors are emotions to me. They both shock and fascinate me simultaneously, constantly urging me to navigate between the dominance of colors and the sensuality of painting,” says Benz. It is precisely this ambivalence that forms the core of her artistic exploration, overlapping, transforming, or dissolving chromatic surfaces with their own supports, often made of unconventional materials such as plexiglass or mirrors. The intention is to capture fleeting moments in the pictorial image, in a contemporary key.
In her artistic journey, Julia Benz has consistently pushed beyond the constraining format of the canvas, venturing into site-specific installations and murals that allow her to create immersive works.
STUDIES
2015
Masterclass Degree in Painting at University of Arts Berlin (Professor Burkhard Held)
2012 -2014
Painting at University of Arts Berlin (Professor Burkhard Held)
2010 – 2012
Painting at Art Academy Düsseldorf
EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2023 October Floating Spheres, Hosek Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2023 May Kinetic Colors, Galerie Gerald Hartinger Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria
2022 May Oscillation, Gallery Köppe Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2021 September Across my Universe, Maison Heidelberg, Montpellier, France
2021 June Two Solos, Affenfaust Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2021 May Slow Dance, Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, USA (online)
2020 September Julia Benz meets Urban Loft Cologne, Urban Loft Cologne, Germany
2019 October Out of mind. Just in Time., Galerie Gerald Hartinger Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria
2019 July Between the lines, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2019 Februar Catharsis, Galerie Gerken in Berlin, Germany
2017 November Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys, Fousion Gallery in Barcelona, Spain
2017 May In a while Crocodile, Plastic Murs Gallery in Valencia, Spain
2016 November Noteingang Installation, Cologne Fine Art Messe, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2016 September Don’t hug me, I’m scared, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2015 September Lost in Trainstation, Heliumcowboy Artspace in Hamburg, Germany
2014 December Window Seat, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2014 October Down by Law, Eichblatt Galerie in Berlin, Germany
2013 December Everything Amazing – Nobody Happy, Urban Spree Gallery in Berlin, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2023 December Drop, Affenfaust Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2023 November A new space is Born, Fousion Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2023 October Urban Constructivism, MOM Artspace, Hamburg, Germany
2023 April Art Karlsruhe, Köppe Contemporary, Karlsruhe, Germany
2023 April Urban Art Fair Paris, Fousion Gallery, Paris, France
2022 April Impulsive Intuition with Kenor, Fousion Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2022 April Urban Art trifft Glas,organised by Derix Glasstudios Deutscher Werkbund Hessen e.V., Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2022 January Sneak Peek, Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2021 July Pop up, Galerie Gerald Hartinger, Wörthersee, Austria
2021 March For Free, Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich, Germany
2021 March art-hoc, Düsseldorf art Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
2021 January Forever21, digital exhibition with Jim Avignon, 44 Flavors, Clemens Behr, Rabea Senftenberg, Fehmi Baumbach,
DAG, organized by Jim Avignon, Worldwide
2020 December Drap’Art’20, Fousion Gallery in Barcelona, Spain
2020 December Fousion Finest, Fousion Gallery in Barcelona, Spain
2020 October In Between Space, Time and a Pattern of Chaos, Fousion Gallery in Barcelona, Spain
2020 September Tomorrow never knows, mit Jim Avignon, Galerie Köppe Contemporary in Berlin, Germany
2019 March Explore the Maze, Maze Gallery in London, UK
2019 March Aporias, Mirus Gallery in San Francisco, USA
2019 March Technicolor, Galerie Zimmerling und Jungfleisch in Saarbrücken, Germany
2019 FebruaryUrvanity Art Fair, Fousion Gallery in Madrid, Spain
2018 September ProAbstraction, Swinton Gallery in Madrid, Spain
2018 March Best of Galerie Gerken, Galerie Gerken in Berlin, Germany
2017 December Natural Space, Galerie Gerken in Berlin, Germany
2017 August Nice to meet you, too, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2016 October Jim Avignon – Rendezvous der Freunde, Raum für Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany
2016 April What the Weekend is Gallery, The Art Union in Berlin, Germany
2015 October Art Fair Cologne, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2015 September Art Copenhagen, Heliumcowboy Artspace in Copenhagen, Denmark
2015 June Scope Art Basel, Heliumcowboy Artspace in Basel, Switzerland
2015 April Das eigene Ich, Affenfaust Galerie in Hamburg, Germany
2014 September Knotenpunkt, Affenfaust Galerie in Hamburg, Germany
2014 May Project M/4, Urban Nation in Berlin, Germany
2013 July The Circle Show, Urban Spree Gallery in Berlin, Germany
2012 October Blooom Art.Fair, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
2012 July Give it a Second, it’s going to Space, Die Kunstagentin Galerie in Cologne, Germany
PROJECTS
2023 December Mural at Viva con Agua Headquarter, Villa Viva, Hamburg, Germany
2023 September Mural at Landmarks Project, Ingolstadt, Germany
2023 June Mural at Lübeck Urban Art Festival, Lübeck, Germany
2023 FebruaryWallpaintings NIU RIG Hotel, Concept and Murals of the whole Hotel, Lübeck, Germany
2022 October Amna Elhassan, execution Painting Rotunda, Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany
2022 August Sienna Mural, Calle Libre Festival, Vienna, Austria
2022 June Floating Shapes, Public Installation, Heidelberg, Germany
2022 March Release Mural, Unite Hostel Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2021 July Golden Yellow Mural, Transit Art Festival, Städtische Galerie Rosenheim, Rosenheim, Germany
2021 July Amazon Mural, Mural Amazon Office, Munich, Germany
2021 June Elementes Mural, Biennale Streetart Padua, Italy
2020 November Julia Benz meets Canada Goose, site-specific Installation in Berlin, Germany
2020 October Amazon Mural, Amazon Office in Munich, Germany
2020 June Antonymdimension, Installation und private commission in Vienna, Austria
2020 May Void Projects, Wandmalerei Home Mural Fest in Berlin, Germany
2020 April init – Mural, private Commission für init AG in Berlin, Germany
2020 March Antonymdimension I, site-specific Installation for c/o Galerie in Berlin, Germany
2020 January Cyan Mural, Paypal Office in Dreilinden in Berlin, Germany
2019 November Satellite, performative site-specific Installation for Vienna Art Week, Galerie Gerald Hartinger Fine Arts
in Vienna, Austria
2019 November Azur Mural, Festival Concreto with Goethe-Institut Brazil in Fortaleza, Brazil
2019 July Malachite Mural, Wandmalerei for Metropolink Festival in Heidelberg, Germany
2018 November Street Project, painting the Berlin Wall for the German embassy in Thailand, on behalf of Goethe-Institut Thailand in Bangkok, Thailand
2018 September FB Air Program Mural, Wandmalerei für das Facebook Office in Berlin
2018 June Sininen Mural, for Goethe-Institut Finnland in Helsinki, Finnland
2017 May Reflection Mural, Plastic Murs Gallery in Valencia, Spanien
2015 November Yalla! – Go Paint Khartoum, Workshop for Urban Arts on behalf of Goethe-Institut Sudan in Khartum, Sudan
2015 August Yalla Mural, Wandmalerei für WDR West Art Television in Düsseldorf, Germany
2015 February We love Youganda, Nationaltheater Kampala for Viva con Agua in Kampala, Uganda
2014 November Yalla! – Go Paint Khartoum, Workshop für Urbane Kunst on behalf of Goethe-Institut Sudan in Khartum, Sudan
2012 October Everything Amazing – Nobody Happy, short documentation with Editude Pictures in Berlin, Germany
RESIDENCIES
Feb – March 2022 B-Murals Artist Residency (1 Month) in Barcelona, Spain
Mai – Jun 2018 Tao Hua Tan Artist Residency (1 Month) in Xuancheng and Shanghai, China
AWARDS
July 2009 Award winner of the European AssociationVisual artist from the Eifel and Ardennes e.V.