September 16–October 14, 2023
Steve Turner is pleased to present Eye Contact, a solo exhibition featuring five new paintings by Stockholm-based Julia de Ruvo that depict either dogs or humans in heightened emotional states. According to the artist, “Animals have always been part of my life. They have the finest possible attributes. They express all that they feel with their bodies, their tails, tongues, eyes and ears. In my portraits of people, I aim to convey the subject’s natural primitive, animal attributes. They represent my fantasy that humans might better respect animals and also recognize the animal in each of us. The eyes of dogs and people are interchangeable in my paintings. It is where the domestic snaps back to feral.”
Julia de Ruvo (born 1993, Stockholm) studied at the Konstskolan, Stockholm, before developing her largely self-taught painting practice. She has had solo exhibitions at Riche, Stockholm (2021); Guts Gallery, London (2022) and Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm (2022). Her work has also been included in two group exhibitions at Guts Gallery, London (2021 & 2022). Eye Contact is de Ruvo’s debut solo exhibition in the United States and her first collaboration with Steve Turner.
