Julia Haft-Candell

Biography

Julia Haft-Candell (b. 1982, Oakland, CA) is a Los Angeles-based artist working in ceramic sculpture. Haft-Candell received a B.A. from University of California, Davis before graduating from the MFA program at California State University, Long Beach in 2010. She spent a summer residency in 2016 at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Madison, ME, and has been awarded multiple grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation and most recently the California Community Foundation Fellowship in 2019. Recent exhibitions include A Soft Grid at Candice Madey, New York, New York and Interlocking at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

Focusing on a litany of historically resonant lines and patterns, Haft-Candell uses recurring symbols containing adaptable meanings to speak to a greater philosophical understanding of the familiar. In Julia's words: "I work intuitively—my pieces are expressive, yet rooted in a conceptual framework that questions language, semiotics, identity, and gender. These new sculptures refer to symbols of intersection, such as hands interlocking, a foot stomping on mud, or water slipping between fingers."