Julia Keenan
Untitled, 2026
Oil, pencil, and watercolour on canvas
Untitled, 2026
Oil, pencil, and watercolour on canvas
In Untitled, Julia Keenan bridges her signature exploration of the "exhausted image" with a poignant look at post-digital isolation. Suspended within a clinical, screen-like white void, a rigid, hard-edged machine encounters a crisis of purpose, experiencing a messy, deeply human state of confusion. Rather than framing technology as purely cold or alienating, Keenan forces human vulnerability directly into the machine's geometric architecture, rendering its severe frame in dense, heavy layers of oil paint.
Standing in an equal, balanced stance alongside this mechanical anxiety is a stylized flower—a direct nod to the spiritual and cosmic iconography of early 20th-century pioneer Hilma af Klint. Handled in a delicate wash of watercolour and fine pencil lines, the flower introduces an ethereal frequency of organic intuition to counter the machine's systemic logic. Bound together by a harmonious, symbiotic colour palette and connected by a single, deliberate thread, the two forms reject the typical "nature versus technology" binary. By leaving the canvas untitled, Keenan leaves the interpretation open, offering a post-human ecosystem where our rigid digital networks and our fragile spiritual heritages are profoundly, permanently intertwined.
In the post-digital age, our personal landscapes are continuously flattened by algorithms, screens, and the relentless speed of the internet feed. Contemporary artist Julia Keenan navigates this friction by treating the traditional medium of painting as an act of resistance. Her wider practice acts as a process of "Material Postproduction," slowing down the fleeting, pixelated debris of our digital "non-places" and translating them into deeply tactile, physical experiences.
This currently untitled painting anchors the core pillars of Keenan’s practice: the tension between human interiority and structural logic. At the centre of a clinical white void stands a severe, hard-edged machine. Yet, its rigid, heavy oil-painted lines are glitched by a deeply human condition: confusion. Trapped within a binary template, the machine undergoes a crisis of identity, searching for a language to process its own existence in an increasingly data-mediated reality.
The answer arrives not from a tech network, but from art history. Emerging with equal stance and significance is a stylized flower inspired by the spiritual, cosmic diagrams of Hilma af Klint. Painted with a delicate, ghost-like watercolour wash and fragile pencil strokes, the flower introduces a soul-led frequency that contrasts the machine's material density.
A single, deliberate thread loops between them, establishing an umbilical cord of meaning. Through a symbiotic colour palette that harmonizes across these two opposing mediums, Keenan removes the conflict between the artificial and the natural. Left intentionally untitled to resist a single, fixed linguistic meaning, the work ultimately reflects our current post-human condition. It posits that survival in a hyper-mediated world relies on a fragile, symbiotic tether where technology carries our heavy anxieties, and the enduring natural spirit keeps us quietly anchored.
Curatorial Exhibition Statement
In the post-digital age, our personal landscapes are continuously flattened by algorithms, screens, and the relentless speed of the internet feed. Contemporary artist Julia Keenan navigates this friction by treating the traditional medium of painting as an act of resistance. Her practice slows down the fleeting, pixelated debris of our digital "non-places," translating them into deeply tactile, physical experiences.
This currently untitled painting anchors the core pillars of Keenan’s wider practice: the profound tension between human interiority and structural logic. At the centre of a clinical white void stands a severe, hard-edged machine. Yet, its rigid, heavy oil-painted lines are glitched by an unexpected condition: confusion. Trapped within a binary template, the machine undergoes a crisis of identity, searching for a language to process its own existence in an increasingly data-mediated reality.
The answer arrives not from a tech network, but from art history. Emerging with equal stance and significance is a stylized flower inspired by the spiritual, cosmic diagrams of Hilma af Klint. Painted with a delicate, ghost-like watercolour wash and fragile pencil strokes, the flower introduces a soul-led frequency that beautifully contrasts the machine's material density.
A single, deliberate thread loops between them, establishing a literal umbilical cord of meaning. This visual tether strongly evokes philosopher Donna Haraway’s concept of sympoiesis, the critical necessity for radically different entities to form unexpected kinships and "make-together" in order to survive a hostile environment. Through a symbiotic colour palette that harmonizes across these two opposing mediums, Keenan removes the conflict between the artificial and the natural. Left intentionally untitled to resist a single, fixed linguistic meaning, the work ultimately reflects our current post-human condition. It posits that survival in a hyper-mediated world relies on a fragile, symbiotic tether where technology carries our heavy anxieties, and the enduring natural spirit keeps us quietly anchored.
The Key Philosophies
- Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) & "Vibrant Matter" (Jane Bennett)
- The Concept: This philosophy argues that non-human things (like machines or plants) have their own inner lives, emotions, and realities independent of humans.
- How it fits: The machine isn't just a tool; it is experiencing its own genuine confusion. The painting is a visual exploration of "vibrant matter"—showing that objects and nature have an active, emotional, and spiritual relationship with each other.
- Gilbert Simondon’s "Technics" & Technoaesthetics
- The Concept: The French philosopher Gilbert Simondon argued that human culture and technology should not be seen as enemies. He believed machines are a continuation of human nature and that we need to find a spiritual and aesthetic harmony with them.
- How it fits: The symbiotic colors, equal stance, and connecting thread reject the idea that technology is evil. Instead, it visualises Simondon's dream: technology and the organic world finding a shared, harmonious rhythm.
- Posthumanism & "Staying with the Trouble" (Donna Haraway)
- The Concept: Haraway famously writes about "chthulucene" and the need for humans, technology, and non-humans to form strange, unexpected tethers to survive a damaged world.
- How it fits: The literal thread connecting the delicate watercolour flower to the heavy oil machine is a textbook illustration of Haraway’s "sympoiesis" (making-together). They are two completely different entities forced to cling to one another to survive the blank void.
Philosophical Integration
In the post-digital age, our personal landscapes are continuously flattened by algorithms and the clinical speed of the internet feed. Contemporary artist Julia Keenan navigates this friction by treating painting as a slow act of resistance, translating the pixelated debris of our digital "non-places" into deeply tactile, physical experiences.
This currently untitled painting anchors the core pillars of Keenan’s practice while engaging deeply with contemporary Posthumanism and Object-Oriented Ontology.
At the centre of a clinical white void stands a severe, hard-edged machine. Yet, its rigid, heavy oil-painted lines are glitched by an unexpected interiority: confusion. Evoking philosopher Jane Bennett’s concept of "Vibrant Matter," Keenan strips the machine of its cold utility, imbuing the non-human object with its own messy, vibrant emotional life.
The antidote to this mechanical crisis arrives not from a digital network, but from art history. Emerging with equal stance and significance is a stylized flower inspired by the spiritual diagrams of Hilma af Klint. Painted with a delicate, ghost-like watercolour wash and fragile pencil strokes, the flower introduces a soul-led frequency that directly counters the machine's material density.
A single, deliberate thread loops between them, establishing a literal umbilical cord of meaning. This visual tether beautifully mirrors Donna Haraway's philosophy of sympoiesis the necessity of radically different entities to form unexpected kinships in order to survive. Through a symbiotic colour palette that harmonizes across these two opposing mediums, Keenan echoes the technoaesthetics of Gilbert Simondon, proving that the artificial and the natural are not inherent enemies. Left intentionally untitled to resist a single, fixed linguistic meaning, the work presents a balanced ecosystem for a post-digital world, suggesting that survival relies on a fragile, symbiotic tether where technology carries our heavy anxieties, and the enduring spirit keeps us quietly anchored.