Julia Fish

Julia Fish’s work can be described as both site-generated and context-specific

Biography of Julia Fish

Julia Fish, born in 1950 in Toledo, Oregon, is a distinguished artist based in Chicago. In 1976, she received a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland. Later, in 1982, she obtained an MFA from MICA / Maryland Institute, College of Art - Mt. Royal School of Painting in Baltimore.

Since 1980, she has been the subject of twenty-seven solo exhibitions, including significant ten-year survey exhibitions such as "Julia Fish: bound by spectrum" at the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago (2019-2020) and "View" at The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (1996). Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions at prestigious institutions like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, Tang Museum at Skidmore College, Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, and the Whitney Biennial (2010).

Her solo exhibitions have been held at various galleries and museums worldwide, including David Nolan Gallery, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, James Harris Gallery, Feigen Contemporary, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Amy Lipton Gallery, and Loughelton Gallery, among others.

Fish's works are part of permanent collections in major museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Denver Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, DePaul Art Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Art, and Illinois State Museum in Springfield. 

Currently, the artist lives and works in Chicago. 

Julia Fish's Art Style

Julia Fish’s work is characterized as site-generated and context-specific, developed through a deep examination of her living and working environment in a 1922 two-story brick storefront in Chicago. Her art practice includes temporary projects, installations, paintings, and works on paper. Fish describes her process as one that explores questions and critical approaches to painting, drawing, and the nuances of representation and re-presentation. Fish's research interests span architecture, architectural history, and theory.