JULIA LUCICH: "Island Life," on through summer, 2005, The Landing Party Fine Art Gallery, Saltspring Island.

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"Simply Salt Spring"

Julia Lucich, "Simply Salt Spring," 2005, acrylic on canvas, 22" x 28".

JULIA LUCICH

Island Life, on through summer, 2005

The Landing Party Fine Art Gallery, Saltspring Island.

By Melissa Whitlock

Julia Lucich’s luminous, figurative paintings delight the senses, presenting captured moments that emerge from everyday life. Each subject she chooses to paint — be it a brightly coloured animal, a busy market scene, or a solitary man — is approached with the desire to create an atmosphere that allows viewers to interact with the piece, filling in the gaps of the narrative with their personal experiences. This desire to create narratives stems from Lucich’s long-time affinity with portraiture. She began her formal artistic training in this area, drawn by the way a face or a gesture can carry so much significance; she has continued with this technique until the present day. Though Lucich employs an array of soft, approachable colours, she maintains that the paintings are not about being “pretty” but focus on joy, which she believes gets lost too often in this angst-ridden world. In recent years, Lucich has found Saltspring Island to be the perfect place from which to derive artistic inspiration because, as she says, “The island is a place of tranquility but also of excitement… There’s a great mix.”  — Melissa Whitlock

Represented by: The Landing Party Fine Art Gallery (the artist’s studio/gallery) and Stone Wallace Gallery, Saltspring Island.