Lives and works Medellín, Colombia. 1982
Master of Fine Arts from the Fine Arts University Foundation of Medellín (2014), and Visual artist from the Fine Arts Institute of Medellín (2002).
Julián Urrego is a visual artist with experience in teaching and design of pedagogical experiences and processes through art. Created, together with a group of friends, the alternative space, “Taller 7” in Medellín (2003 - 2018).
The drawing in Urrego's work is not only the end, it is also the means that expands ideas in space. Through this technique, the artist addresses the notions of masculinity, sex, interpersonal relationships, image and body as a metaphor for identity.
He has made some residencies such as: The Usurper, Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia. LDF, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Residency in Casa Vecina, México, D.F., and has taken part in exhibitions like the 40th National Arts Salon, Bogotá (2006). Special project for the entrance hall of the Modern Arts Museum of Medellín. (2017 – 2018). “Sewing for young ladies” and “Landscape with bear and peacock” in Policroma gallery, Medellín (2019). “Some gardens, petite façons”, Exhibitions room of Comfenalco’s Club La Playa, Medellín (2005).
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Black Angels is an original poem by Andrés Eloy Blanco, popularized with music.
In the poem set to music, a voice asks a painter “why, if you are from the same land, don't you paint little black angels? ... whenever you paint churches, you paint beautiful angels, but you never remembered to paint a black angel "
Black Angels is a series of drawings following the patterns of last century magazines with content on fashion, home, tips, cooking and with patterns so that the "housewives" could learn to embroider and continue with their embroidery in each edition.
This project is a sum of layers of colors, meanings, possible stories and questions about what could be a festival of color and cultural riches. Unfortunately, after a century, ostracism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia are perpetuated in a continuous battle of religions, positions and power.
Urrego makes this series of drawings from the collection of images from the world of fashion, predominantly nude color, now widely used in campaigns around diversity and the celebration of differences.
Paradoxically, all these qualities with which, superficially, the big brands inspire to sell seasonal and high-consumption ideals, have also historically been the cause of wars and separation.
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Drawings of “models” on squared school sheets confine us to following historical patterns of rejection and division.
To teach? Christopher Fry said that "darkness is light enough." The world is made up of lights and shadows; It is those areas that certain sectors have called dark, those that interest Urrego, the light that illuminates his project lives there.
Borders that should follow a pattern begin to change with the possibility of revealing other identities, mixing not only origins but also genders. Lines and drawings that speak of identity and the weight that education exerts in its construction are aspects that the artist addresses through drawings made of metaphors, enriched with iterations and interventions such as embroidery. The latter is just another job loaded with stereotypes.
Teach and learn, unlearn and blur is the final stitch in this series.
