Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
printmaking + painting + collage
Based outside of Boston, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is a biracial painter, printmaker, and collage artist who constructs vibrant compositions. Her artwork investigates the interplay of identity and perception, inviting viewers to take a longer look. Julie works in layers, both physically and metaphorically, exploring what is visible and what is concealed. She works out of the attic of her Victorian home where she lives with her husband and five-year-old son. She is a graduate of Brown University.
"As a biracial person who is usually assumed to be white, and a rapidly aging fat woman navigating a society that prioritizes women who are young and thin, I'm acutely aware of the dissonance between external appearance and internal realities. That’s a big part of what I explore in my artwork. What do you think you see and what do you actually see if you look longer? Investigate a bit?"
From a distance, my work looks bold, bright, and colorful. Up close, hidden details begin to surface, inviting the viewer to linger. This reflects what I explore in my art: identity, perception, and chaos. Identity is how I see myself; perception is how others see me. The friction between these two viewpoints—and the chaos of everyday life—shapes my process.
Motherhood has become a central metaphor for me: demanding, overflowing, contradictory, and full of love. I work in layers, using painting, printmaking, collage, and drawing, often blending them so completely that you can’t tell where one ends and another begins. I bury details on purpose, creating surfaces that feel so busy they become neutral. Like people at their best, I want my paintings to reveal more and more complexity the longer you spend with them.
More
You can view recent artwork HERE.
Buy artwork HERE. (If you don't see what you're looking for, drop me a line.)
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