Talking to Christina Julsgaard is a lot like looking at one of her paintings; you are met by a stream of creative energy and joy, but also a sense of purpose and practicality. The 38-year-old artist uses her abstract paintings to both express ideas and release energy.
“I get ideas all the time and if I don’t get them out, I get tics. I need an outlet. The paintings are my emotional space, where I can link experiences, feelings and thoughts together for my own particular abstract language,” explains the energetic artist.
Though her work has been exhibited in various galleries all over the world, including Shanghai, Berlin, the Netherlands and France, Julsgaard sells most of her work through her own studio and website.
The music of colours
It is not the first time Julsgaard has been in charge of her own business. At the age of 20, she was already living out her dream travelling the world for a Danish design firm, and in 2001, she started her own minimalistic design brand. When Julsgaard, shortly after began painting, she experienced that the art provided an energising and infectious source of idea development for her many designs.
Decorating her former shop in Copenhagen with a few of her paintings, the designer soon discovered that her art works could also inspire in their own right.
“When I had my own brand, I was designing and doing lots of exciting projects, but when I was painting, I experienced a different kind of freedom. I did not paint with the intention of selling my work, but just because I felt a desire to,”
says Julsgaard and continues:
“In a way the art complemented and inspired my design work, but it also worked the other way around. When I looked at a colour chart, I felt the urge to do something else, to use the colours in another way than I could in my clothing designs. Doing that, without worrying about its purpose, gave me an amazing sense of independence.”
Christina’s intuitive eye for remarkable colour and figure combinations quickly caught the eye of art buyers and critics, and in 2009, she decided to dedicate herself to her art full time.
From the white canvas to the office wall
The freedom Julsgaard feels when painting is reflected in a captivating and invigorating randomness in her pictures.
Through intuitive visual abstractions she portrays emotions and moods, which the viewer is free to interpret.
"I love to hear people's experiences when they gaze at my paintings. Many find motifs that reflect their own lives and thoughts, which is very fascinating,” she says.
Working from her family home in North Zealand, 20 minutes from Copenhagen, Julsgaard sells art through both her studio and website. The website enables buyers to visualise her paintings in different settings, as integrating her artwork in homes and offices is one of the many things the multitalented artist enjoys.
“I find all parts of my business really exciting: creating the website, designing sales material and meeting the buyers. It is the same joy I get from creating a painting. Every time I start with a white canvas, I get to create something from the bottom and follow it all the way to its new home,”
Julsgaard explains and finishes:
“I love architecture and interior design and I would love to create a collection of artwork which would provide a common denominator throughout an entire building, a hotel or office - that would be really exciting.”
