Chang, Julie W

1976, Park Ridge, USA

Introduction

Julie W. Chang is a San Francisco based contemporary artist whose work investigates how identities are constructed and how (mis)understandings of both self and other might be resisted, subverted, and reimagined. Her paintings use ancient and contemporary cultural symbols to make visible hidden histories and illustrate the cultural hybridity inherent in the world. Her debut exhibition with Alisan Fine Arts features works from two series that draw from familiar visual sources like the Chinese symbol for double happiness, the Sanskrit character for AUM, a symbol of the divine in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, alongside less prevalent sources including African mud cloth, Japanese shibori and Native American basket weavings. Migration I, II and III, for example, take their cue from the visual and technical components of weaving. Geometric forms float across the nearly monochromatic compositions—twinkling diamond forms and other patterns at times connecting and overlapping. Incorporating resin, Chang’s Talisman series are dazzling paintings composed of intricate and colorful layers. Fusing symbols of healing, wisdom, redemption, joy, enlightenment, interdependence and peace, the works are compendiums of goodwill. 

Chang received her MFA from Stanford University in 2007, her BA in Sociology from Tufts University and her BFA in Studio Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1999. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Jose Museum of Art, Stanford University, Transformer Gallery in Washington DC, Montserrat College of Art, Tulane University, Iowa State University and Yeditepe University in Istanbul. She was a recipient of the 2004 Murphy Cadogan Award, 2007 Headlands Center for the Arts MFA Studio Award.

Light, Space and Time at Alisan Fine Arts-New York in 2024 is the gallery’s first time working with the artist.


BIOGRAPHY

1976 Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, USA

1998 Painting, Illustration, and Commercial Design, Parsons School of Design, Paris, France

1999 BFA, Painting and Printmaking, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA

BA, Sociology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

2005 Graduate Studies in Painting/New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, SF, CA, USA

2007 MFA Stanford University, CA, USA

Currently Lives in San Francisco, CA, USA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023

  • Amulets, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2022

  • 2022 Vibrant Matter, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Morrill Hall, Ames, Iowa, USA

2008

  • Ox Herding, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2006

  • Thank You... Have a Nice Day..., Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

2017

  • Detritus, San Jose ICA, San Jose, CA, USA

2012

  • SpaceBi: Taking Up Space, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA

  • FAX, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2010

  • Depth of Surface, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, CA, USA

2009

  • Present Tense Biennial: Chinese Character, Chinese Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

2008

  • Close Calls 2008, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA, USA

  • In Pursuit of Beauty, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA, USA

  • Vital Signs, Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

2007

  • Cream from the Top, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA, USA

  • Paper Cuts 3, Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA, USA

2006

  • Appropriately Yours, Transformer Gallery, Washington, DC, USA

  • 4th International Symposium of Interactive Media, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Unbecoming, Stanford University, Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, CA, USA

2005

  • Futurefemme, BRAVA Theatre Center for Women in the Arts, San Francisco, CA , USA

2004

  • Murphy Cadogan Award Winners Exhibition, San Francisco Arts Commission, CA, USA

  • 8 Takes, San Francisco Art Institute, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

  • Considering Red, San Francisco Art Institute, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2002

  • Cinefemme, BRAVA Theatre Center for Women in the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA


SELECTED AWARDS

2015 Public Art Commission, San Francisco Transbay Transit Center Grand Hall, San Francisco Arts Commission, CA, USA

2013 Public Art Commission for Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

2012 San Francisco Arts Commission Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series, San

Francisco, CA, USA

2010 Transforming Fictions, Kearny Street Workshop-de Young Artist Studio

Residency, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA

2009 W Hotel Commission, Washington, DC, USA

2007 MFA Studio Award, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA, USA

2004 Murphy Fine Arts Fellowship, San Francisco Arts Commission, CA, USA

Educator’s Incentive Grant, San Francisco Archdiocese, CA, USA

2003 Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute, CA, USA

Surdna Fellowship, Maryland Institute of Arts, Baltimore, MD, USA