Julie Davidson

About Julie Davidson

Julie Davidson was born in Melbourne in 1955. She studied Fine Art at Prahran Tech in the late 70's and has painted still life, landscape and portraits, holding several successful solo exhibitions whilst raising a family. Her most recent works have been still life paintings in which she sees ordinary objects imbued with religious and historical overtones, with reference to altarpiece settings and dramatic lighting. Her main influences have been the Italian Renaissance painters, in particular Carravaggio and Pierro della Francesca, the Venetian altarpieces by Bellini and Titian and the Spanish still life painters Sanchez-Cotan and de Zurburan. Travelling to Italy in 1990 formed a firm interest in the composition and symbolism of the Renaissance painters and the use of chiascuro.

Julie's desire is to express an underlying order by creating a balance and serenity in the composition. To achieve this, dramatic lighting, often with dark backgrounds, grants simple objects - fruit, vegetables, garden flowers - a monumental quality.

Julie's work has been presented in several solo and group exhibitions; she has been a finalist in the Blake Prize, the Mandorla Art Prize and the Warwick Regional Art Competition. She has produced a large number of commissioned portraits, and her work is represented in private and corporate collections in Australia and overseas.