Julia Rossel | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julia Rossel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julia, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Pursuing your passion is a risk and it felt even riskier to me as a first generation Bolivian-American. My parents imagined a different, more lucrative future for me after sacrificing so much to move here. I’m wrestling with 2 decades of doubt in the back of my brain while the front of it believes in me wholeheartedly. For me, risk taking is rooted in ego and delusion. Being able to tell myself it will work out because somehow “I’m special.” When I put together my first show in a friend’s backyard (April Showers are May Flowers, 4/30/2022) there was no guarantee that anyone would actually show up. It ended up being a satisfactory turnout so I continued scheming different events, but without that scary first step my practice would be in a different place.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
“I make art for my present self to digest life as I move through it. Drawing from my most vulnerable spots is healing while also exploitative, I am honest yet aware of how I want to be consumed by others. The honesty shows in the touched, raw look of my work. Repetitive and unplanned actions build up to let the viewer see the time invested. The futility of trying to hold on to the present entrances me, through experimenting with materials I’m finding my visual language in concrete, plaster, wire/metal, textiles, and wax. I am drawn to substances that start wet and end dry, or that are malleable, impressionable substances allowing them to capture history. My chosen materials are those that let my hand leave palimpsests; traces telling of an emotional, intuitive way of being which informs the essence of each piece. Each piece is an artifact of my existence in sculpture, installation, video, collage and film/digital photography that has culminated into a self archive over time.” – quote from my artist statement 2023

My art career is in its infancy, which is wildly exciting with potential and a little frustrating due to my lack of experience but both of these feelings balance each other out. In some ways I attribute my current position to luck: being in the job market at the right time to apply for certain positions, being fortunate enough that my parents supported me attending an art oriented school like HSPVA, meeting a few mentors who shared their experience and reassured me. But in other ways, that luck would have been for nothing if I hadn’t already worked hard to be prepared for an opportunity that was meant for me. I’m looking forward to creating more site-specific installations at live music venues and in nature. I want to broaden the ways my sculpture practice can interact with the event planning aspect of my life.

Delving deeper into Houston’s DIY community has allowed me to find a gorgeous network of musicians, entrepreneurs and artists that are open to collaboration. It’s a thriving, welcoming scene with a variety of genres coexisting that has its own nastiness in the form of subliminal misogyny/racism and the tolerance of those who sexually harass or abuse others. I overcame the dissatisfaction I felt with the state of my surroundings by trying to start something new. With information I’ve gathered through whisper networks and personal experience, I have a good idea of who to avoid and that reflects in the curation of bands/individuals I do choose to work with. I want to normalize publicly speaking about the members of our community that make others feel disrespected or unsafe. Personally I’m tired of seeing my peers blindly follow the hype instead of thinking critically about who they surround themselves with. Being a bystander is being an enabler, that is not the kind of energy I want to be around and I’m sure there’s others that resonate with these words. If there’s anything I want everybody to know about me, It’s that I’m versatile, open, and always true to myself.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
breakfast: Maga’s on Cafe on Dumble & Polk has my favorite chilaquiles.

lunch/shopping: Ironworks Marketplace on Milby is home to many POC owned small businesses like Second Slice, Cargo, and Segundo.

dinner: Oui Banhmi

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
my partner and creative collaborator Lou Alejandres (@gushygardens), and his band @vivaldisgreenjacket my roster of repeat collaborators found on fliers on my instagram account.

Website: hotelchlorine.com

Instagram: @hotelchlorine