Jardin privé. 2010. J.Harms. Acrylic on paper. 29x39cm.
These are unusual times.
The weather is warming,
the sun is shining,
birds are singing,
but we are all confined indoors
to prevent a virus from circulating.
In French, « Jardin privé » which literally means « Private garden » , can also mean « deprived of garden » in a more poetic sense : « de jardin privé… »
Hi !
I will be showing my most recent paintings at the Grand Salon d’Art Abordable ( the French version of the affordable Art Fair) in Paris again this month.
It’s the only exhibition I will be doing this year.
If some of you are in the area at the end of this month, and wish to come, please direct message me and I will email you an invitation.
Check out Here for further information.
Attention aux cactus. 2018. J.Harms. 81×100 cm. Acrylic on canvas.
I was contacted a couple weeks ago by an artist whom I exhibited with last year. She is currently organizing a show in a Parisian gallery and has kindly asked me to participate. The theme for the show is “tropical dream” . Having never been to the Islands, And having absolutely no paintings resembling the theme, I decided to roam the Jardin d’Auteuil in Paris. Those of you that watch the tennis will know that Roland Garros’ courts are right across the street from those extraordinary greenhouses. The main one, resembling a little crystal palace, was closed for maintenance. It held the palm trees which I intended to paint at first. Walking around the gardens to the other smaller greenhouses, I came across the one housing the cacti. Beware of the cacti.
Au palais d’Iéna. 2018. J.Harms. Acrylic on paper. 40x50cm. (Private collection.)
At the end of March this year, AD magazine hosted a show ( AD matières ) on contemporary interior decorating at the Palais d’Iéna in Paris. It focused mainly on decorative painting, and other wall finishes ( mosaïc, straw, unique wall-papers…). I was curious to see the new trends, and visited the site with some expectation. Since the decorative world is rather small, I quickly realised that almost everyone presented works of a similar palette of colors, warm golden hues, sometimes just plain gold leaf or paint, brushed over, or combed, or mixed with a darker color, so much so, that I painted the place with warm earth tones, simply because that’s how I remember it.
The show in itself was not very inspiring. However, the location was. The place has a bahausian flair to it. Coincidentally, I am half-way through Nicholas Fox Weber’s book “the Bahaus group”. I wonder if that had some influence on the choice of the subject and the way with which I painted it.
Le toit du monde. 2017. J.Harms. 41x61cm. Acrylic on paper.
At the end of last year and beginning of this one, I had the great opportunity to work in a prestigious place. The Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. The hotel has been undergoing complete renovation and it was quite a thrill to be part of this massive project. I was part of Christophe Martin‘s team of decorative painters and our job was to paint the suites designed by Karl Lagerfeld. Needless to say the most extraordinary and most expensive suites of the hotel. During breaks, I would sometimes take advantage of the scaffolding just to climb up to the top of the palace. The view there was breathtaking. While painting it, and remembering the view, I couldn’t help but think about Raoul Dufy’s great views of Paris.
Mes tableaux s’exposent de nouveau ! A l’Espace L’ISSUE, 38 rue Quincampoix à Paris, du 24 au 26 Juillet !
I will show some of my paintings along side Chinese and French artists in Paris from July 24 to July the 26th ! How exciting !
Urban jungle 2015. Acrylic on white paper. 22×30,5 cm. J.harms. Edition of 29 limited prints.
The Date (see post) and this painting come from the same day of wandering around the Sacré Coeur. I couldn’t help but think that all these cars were like a pack of sleeping animals nestled in the urban jungle.
On the edge of a precipice 2015. Acrylic on white paper. 23×15,5 cm.
I began this painting at the beginning of January. Those who know Paris will recognize the Hermès horse perched on the roof of the building near Place de la Concorde. The terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo happened while I was working on this picture. Somehow, something I had thought would be funny to paint ended up with a whole new meaning. Instead of the conquering animal at the top of the world, I saw the proud aristocratic horse on the edge of a precipice.
Under the trees 1, 2014, 12x24cm, Acrylic on paper. Julie Harms.
I have a small digital camera I carry around in my bag. I use it whenever I see something that might interest me for a future painting. I seldom use the whole picture, most of the time I use a detail from that picture. It also happens that I forget about a picture and keep it in my camera for months, sometimes years. This detail, is taken from a picture I took the same day I took the one for the painting “Three friends”. It was in Paris, It was hot, and sunny, and whenever that happens, Parisians run for the shade… I don’t want people to notice when I take pictures of them, so I have to press on the button quickly, regardless of the light and the composition…
Three friends (2012)
Acrylic on paper – 17,5×31 cm (private collection)
On a sunny afternoon around le Bon Marché in Paris.
Wandering along Rue de Babylone, I came across a park surrounded by high walls filled with kids and strollers. The city tends to be forgotten there.
Three friends walk up a large sandy alley, discussing the world.
