Julius Bockelt

*1986, Germany

Julius Bockelt was born in Frankfurt am Main. Since 2004 he has worked at Atelier Goldstein in Frankfurt, where he pursues a clear artistic concept, focusing on the limits of perception and metaphysical themes.

His highly distinctive graphic and photographic work is based on visual and auditory phenomena. For these works he does scientific research into cloud formations and the state of the sky, which he also photographs. In addition, he is interested in the way soap bubbles can be manipulated. Using irregularly cut paper, he draws a first line in ink, which is followed by other fine lines grouped in a sequence that “...overlaps and turns slightly to form a fragile, oscillating composition”. (Christiane Cuticchio, in Hannah Rieger (ed.), Kunst, die verbindet (United in Art), Vienna 2014, p.75). For his wide-ranging sound studies, Julius Bockelt uses computers, his own voice and manipulable keyboard instruments to create compositions on themes such as interference and chance. “Despite the increasing complexity of his work, his references always remain legible and transparent. The dominant motifs in all his series of works are resonance and ephemerality” (Sven Fritz, in christian berst art brut (ed.), julius bockelt, ostinato, Paris 2021, p.35.

Another entirely different dimension of Julius Bockelt’s artwork is his oak sculpture of Christ, a 2.80 metre tall figure with outstretched arms, which stands in the Marienkirche at Aulhausen. It took Julius Bockelt three years – with help from a wood specialist – to make this figure, which stands near the altar. This work was completed as part of the Atelier Goldstein project to refurbish the 13th century church in the old Cistercian convent. He usually makes small figures out of wood or PVC. In 2016 the documentation of this project was honoured with an exhibition entitled “Von der Unbegreiflichkeit Gottes” (On the incomprehensibility of God), as part of a series of parallel exhibitions in the Haus am Dom, the Dommuseum and the Zollamtssaal in Frankfurt am Main. In 2021 the Paris gallery owner Christian Berst displayed a solo exhibition of Julius Bockelt’s work, entitled “Ostinato”.

Graphic works by Julius Bockelt can be seen in Bruno Decharme’s Collection abcd in France, the Museum of Everything in the UK, and in the Treger and Saint Silvestre collection in Portugal. As of 2021, Julius Bockelt has also been represented in the 921 works of the “Donation d'Art Brut de Bruno Decharme” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Selected works