ABOUT

BIOGRAPHY

Julia Berkman (b. 1976, Boston, Massachusetts) is an abstract artist who makes colorful, patterned, gestural paintings. She attended Swarthmore College and completed her MFA at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts. She has been exhibiting in group and solo exhibitions since. Her work has been featured in Studio Visit and New American Paintings. She has had solo exhibitions at SOHO20 Gallery in New York and the Fred Snitzer Gallery in Miami. Florida. She has also had solo exhibits at Somerville Community Access Television and Gann Academy in Waltham, Massachusetts.

She has participated in group exhibitions at Site: Brooklyn in Brooklyn, New York, SJ Art Consulting in Haverill, Massachusetts, 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, the Maake Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the UForge Gallery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She has also been part of group exhibitions at the SOHO20 Gallery in New York, the Domo Gallery in Summit, New Jersey, and the Boston University Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work is owned by collectors in Miami, New York, and Germany. She attended Chautauqua School of Art and the Vermont Studio Center. She received an Individual Cultural Sector Recovery Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work was recently reviewed in the online journal Art Feature Express. She currently lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

My abstract paintings push the boundaries of gesture, color, and pattern. They blend elements of minimalism and expressionism with a touch of playfulness and feminine whimsy. For two decades, I have struggled with Depression, and for the past few years I’ve had Long Covid. I can be self-critical and hard on myself. I get frustrated that I cannot function as I used to. My paintings are metaphors for the complex nature of recovery. Each layer of paint builds on the last, creating a nuanced accumulation of gestural brushmarks. The top layer is intrinsically bonded to the layers beneath it. An initial imperfection in a lower layer becomes part of the final outcome.

My paintings are not rigidly geometric or wildly expressionistic. I often begin a painting with a predetermined design, then change the compositional pattern a few times before finishing. This tendency towards experimentation extends to my use of color. I can change a painting's colors innumerable times before it is finished. It’s like building up layers of nuance before reaching the final outcome.

In my work, I want to highlight that struggle and change can coexist. Stability and instability aren’t opposite; they’re interdependent. Just as a dark, muddy color can sit next to a vibrant hue, light and dark can exist together. Above all, there is a sense of hope. Hope that I can recover. Hope that I can keep creating complex, multi-layered pieces that speak to the universal experiences of struggle and change.

CV

EDUCATION

2007 | MFA, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ

2005 | Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio Art, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

1999 | BA, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017 | Painting Exhibition, Gann Academy, Waltham, MA

2013 | Solo Exhibit, Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA

2012 | Edge of Sunshine, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL

2012 | Revolver, Uforge Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA

2011 | Blip, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, NY

GROUP EXHIBTIONS

2026 | Landscape Natural and Urban, Site Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2026 | Geometry The Shape of Things, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2023 | Small Works Show, SJ Art Consulting, Haverill, MA

2018 | 14th Annual Small Works Show, 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2016 | Deal with It, Maake Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2015 | Abstracted, UForge Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA

2012 | Always/Never, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, NY

2011 | Primary, UForge Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA

2006 | Rutgers University at Domo Gallery, Domo Gallery, Summit, NJ

2004 | Arches Print Exhibition, Boston University, Boston, MA

GRANTS

2023 | Cultural Sector Recovery Grant, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston, MA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2026 | Art Feature Express, “Gestural Abstraction Rooted in Emotion, Balance, and Play,” Juddy Miller

2013 | Somerville Community Access Television,"Artist Interview" with Janet Cormier

2012 | The Miami Rail, ”Julia Berkman: Edge of Sunshine," Marcos Valella, Fall 2012

2012 | Artslant, "Watchlist Artist: Julia Berkman," October 5, 2012. Installation shot of "Edge of Sunshine" exhibit featured on Artslant homepage for one week.

2012 | New American Paintings Blog, "Publisher's Choice: Edge of Sunshine" on "Must See Painting Shows, October, 2012"

2011 | New American Paintings, 2011 Northeast Edition, #92

2010 | Studio Visit, Volume Eleven

RESIDENCIES

2004 | Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

1999 | Chautauqua Institute of Art, Chautauqua, NY