Julie Davidson
“The act of still life painting is a continual search for beauty in the most ordinary of life’s moments.”- Julie Davidson
Julie Davidson is an Australian artist based in Melbourne who is renowned for her meticulously rendered still life paintings, which explore themes of light, time and the transient nature of everyday objects. Born in Melbourne in 1955, she studied fine art at the Prahran College of Advanced Education in the late 1970s. Throughout her career, she has been committed to elevating ordinary subjects, such as vessels, fruit, and flowers, imbuing them with a sense of quiet reverence and philosophical depth. Inspired by the chiaroscuro techniques of Italian Renaissance masters such as Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca, as well as the serene compositions of Dutch Baroque artist Jan Vermeer, Davidson's work is characterised by its cinematic quality, achieved through dramatic lighting and meticulous composition.
Her paintings are characterised by their cinematic quality, achieved through dramatic lighting and meticulous composition. She often draws inspiration from Northern European and Asian painting traditions, blending the altar-like stillness of Western art with the calligraphic fluidity of Taoist depictions. Her works have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Australia and are held in private and corporate collections worldwide. Davidson's art invites viewers to contemplate the interplay between the material and the immaterial, offering a meditative space in which the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Image: Artist’s Instagram
About the Artist
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Born 1955 in Melbourne, VIC. Lives and works in Melbourne, VIC
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Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
Portrait of Light, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2023
Seasons, Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Perth, WA2021
Moments in Time, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2020
Quiet Contemplation, Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Perth, WA2019
Beauty in Transience, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2018
Small Things in Silence, Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Perth, WA2017
Ways of Seeing, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2015
Stillness, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2014
Return to Beauty, Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Perth, WA2013
Offering, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Subiaco, Perth, WA2012
Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Subiaco, Perth, WA2011
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth, Sydney, NSW2010
Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Subiaco, Perth, WA2009
Linton and Kay Fine Art Gallery, Subiaco, Perth, WA2008
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth, Sydney, NSW2007
LK Galleries, Subiaco, Perth, WA
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth, Sydney, NSW2006
LK Galleries, Subiaco, Perth, WA
Lynne Wilton Gallery, Armadale, VIC2005
LK Galleries, Subiabo, Perth, WA
Lynne Wilton Gallery, Armadale, VIC2004
The Gallery, Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, VIC1995, 1993, 1992
Riebl Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, VIC
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Lives of Their Own, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2020
Lester Portrait Prize, Salon des Refusés2019
30 x 30, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
On the Fringe, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2018
Patricia Toohey Painting Prize, New Norcia Museum and Art Gallery, WA2016
Mandorla Art Prize, New Norcia Museum and Art Gallery, WA2014
Celebrating 25 Years, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
The Portrait Show, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC2007–2008
Group Exhibitions, LK Galleries, Subiaco, Perth, WA2006–2007
Melbourne Art Fair, VIC2003
Feature Artist, Canterbury Art Show2001–2002
Melbourne Grammar Art Show, VIC2001
MLC Art Show
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Prizes / Awards
2020
Semi-finalist, Lester Portrait Prize2018
Mandorla Painting Prize2014
Finalist, Eutick Still Life Award, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
Finalist, Mandorla Art Prize, WA2004
Highly Commended, Camberwell Rotary Art Show2000
Runner-up, Warwick Regional Gallery Art Prize1996
Finalist, Mandorla Art Prize
Finalist, Blake Prize for Religious Art
Select Publications
2023
The Big Book of Little Art Essays, Flinders Lane Gallery
Collections
Camberwell Grammar School Collection
Private collections in Australia and internationally
122 x 92cm