“I am interested in that subtle balance, the point of tension where the forces of chance, the unconscious gesture and the sensitivity of the drawing align.”
Julia Eulogia Merle Tortora (born 1979) is a contemporary Spanish artist, illustrator and cultural activist. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she has lived in Madrid for more than 20 years.
Merle draws and paints, rooted in a family heritage of art. Her style of abstract figuration and palette selection invites viewer interaction, with "unfinished" works and spontaneous gestures. Her work exudes identity and humanity, evoking emotion and intense dialogue.
"In 2012, I started exploring my personal work, in coincidence with becoming a mother - intrinsically related circumstances: raising my son, creating my home-studio and my personal work are part of the same aesthetic gesture. I conceive each work as a game, where everything happens in real time. My aesthetic search uses tools of a "deconstructed" figuration that look for the abstract, the unfinished, that stop at the exact point where the spectator's intervention becomes essential to the completion of the work, and also an invitation to new points of departure. My recurring topics are bonds and identity."