July Ancel is a painter born in Nice in 1984, active in Paris for the last fifteen years, rising star on the French art scene.

Graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2010, her work is regularly presented in monographic and collective exhibitions in France (Paris, Sceaux, Arcueil, Courbevoie) and abroad (Turkey, Mexico). From her journey at Casa Velázquez in 2011 to her residency at Villa Swagatam in Lucknow in northern India in 2024, July's artistic practice is made up of travels and encounters that nourish her inspiration. Her strong ties with China, where she lived for several years, give her particular visibility on the Chinese art scene. Several art galleries and private collectors share and promote her work there (Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, Hangzhou). Laureate of various art prizes and scholarships, July's work is recognized and praised by the profession. A richly illustrated book, published by Éditions Lord Byron (Paris, 2023), shows her colorful work.

Through her work, July Ancel immerses her viewer in a dreamlike and mystical universe where coexist inspirations gleaned during her journeys in China, India, Mexico, Turkey or Spain. Voluntary and necessary exiles, far from her landmarks, these encounters with the culture of the Other are real driving forces in her creative practice. The movement in Space and Time engages her in a constantly renewed artistic journey, in a fertile questioning. Sensitive to Asian mythologies and the founding myths of ancient civilizations, July integrates into her paintings the codes and motifs of this otherness, remodeled to serve an expression of her interiority as an artist, a woman and a European. She summarizes her approach thus: "I continue to paint and to seek opportunities for exile: discovering other civilizations, other cultures, immersing myself in them, growing in my knowledge of the world, of others, reflecting on myself in this environment, this is all that travel can offer me."

Her work questions the notion of trace and memory, of appearance and disappearance, the duality between the inner world and collective experience. July sees her art through a truly cathartic prism, like a light in the storm of life, which allows her to stay on course and maneuver beyond the tumults of everyday life. Artistic expression embodies for her an essential point of balance, indispensable to her state of Being, finding freedom in movement: "By moving from one country to another, I free my body and my mind."

In recent years, this quest for a specific pictorial identity has resulted in a lightening of her palette and a tendency towards suggestion and abstraction. The figure, suggested by the colored line, is emancipated in a new impulse for pure emotion and sensation. July's recent experiments, particularly through embroidery, tend towards a more artisanal dimension of her work. This decorative approach, in the material itself, mixing textile, ornaments and pictorial material, constitutes a new aspect of her artistic thinking.

July Ancel is confident about the future. Enriched by her past experiences, she now intends to deploy her work with stability and serenity, powerfully. The artistic maturity acquired in recent years encourages her to share more, to construct new collaborations to shine on the contemporary art scene.

Text by Anaëlle Gobinet-Choukroun, Docteur en Histoire de l’Art