Techno Artist Julian Jeweil is Also a Painter - and a Good One
Art takes a rare sort of patience and vision that often applies to more than one medium. This is certainly the case for Julian Jeweil. Not only is he a techno DJ and producer with releases on labels like Drumcode and Tronic, but he is also building an audience for his skillful paintings.
This fan base has grown organically as Julian seems to approach visual art with the same innocent enthusiasm as his music. Last year, he told Flow Music that he had been painting for many years as a way to relax and unwind.
Julian professed his admiration for the late Jean-Michel Basquiat. The North American neo-expressionist painter harnessed his loud and abstract style to pose social commentary on race and class issues. “His work was so vibrant and avant-garde,” Julian said. “It’s a shame he died so young."
Basquiat’s influence is reflected in Julian Jeweil’s own paintings. His works often blend surrealistic and vaguely representational human figures with almost cartoonish elements. Each resulting image triggers a nuanced emotional response that mirrors the very complexity of the human condition.
This is no accident, as Julian approaches visual art with the same intentionality as he does music production. “There definitely is a link,” he says. “Both processes start with an obsessive idea; it’s like an itch I cannot rid myself of that claws its way up to the surface. I start with that, then I modulate as I go along until I reach the exact thing I was looking for.”
Perhaps one day, Julian Jeweil will be as well-known for his paintings as he is for his techno tracks. Better yet, maybe he’ll find a way to incorporate both into an audiovisual mode of delivery. His two forms of expression hardly clash, after all. In each, one can sense the same fearless attitude that has enabled him to achieve success as a creative.
Either way, Julian seems to be enjoying it all the same. It appears to come naturally — a solid foundation upon which the greatest of endeavors can stand tall.
