ARTISTIC JOURNEY OVERVIEW
After growing up in my home country of Colombia and seeing first hand the underprivileged and vulnerable populations, my family moved to England. Like most foreigners in 1983, it was an adjustment for me and also for the people around me. I experienced prejudice and also acceptance, but sadly due to the name Colombia, I mainly experienced pre-conceived ideas about my country. One of the best things about not speaking a language and learning is the opportunity to fully appreciate and blend the colours of countries, languages, people and communication. Not speaking the language, and facing prejudice from others shaped my experiences and identity. In my late 20’s I attended university for photography & film to equip myself with the tools to document and bring to light the socioeconomics and plight of the vulnerable populations.
As a social artist, I have deepened my own insights into the vulnerable populations of society beginning in my home country of Colombia. Vulnerability is a topic that I have felt extremely passionate about from a young age while going through a humble childhood.
My first and most significant projects, "Work, Play, and No Rest," began as a university assignment during my mother's final months of life in Colombia. The project evolved into a five-year undertaking that documented the lives of disadvantaged children in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, and Venezuela. The book, which includes 150 photographs, has been recognised by the British Library, with six copies housed in its permanent collection and 20% of the book's revenue sales were donated to orphanages in South Africa and Peru. You can see some of the images from the book at https://youpic.com/julioosorio6
My love of painting emerged unexpectedly in March 2012, while detained, following an altercation with a nightclub doorman. As I was without the cameras I had come to rely on for my creative expression, I discovered I could paint at the first chance I got to attend the education department and became a prolific painter since. I embraced the practise and discovered the therapeutical powers it has for healing and help balance one’s mind, which was of great help for me to get through the experience I lived and made me determined to pursue a career as a painter after my release in 2014, Two days after my release, I attended the opening of "We Are All Human" exhibition at the South Bank Centre, curated by the poet, writer, lyricist, and musician, Benjamin Zephaniah, who chose my painting Minuscule Beauty as the poster image for the exhibition.
Benjamin Zephaniah - Poet, writer, lyricist and musician.
"Julio is a cool cat. I became aware of his work when I used one of his paintings as the poster image for an exhibition I was curating on the Southbank in London. It was the stand out piece of the exhibition. His work is vibrant, intelligent, relevant, and quirky. I love his work. Welcome to his world."
As a prize, I was awarded a fine art scholarship from The Monument Trust, and I have not looked back.
The COVID-19 epidemic has now catapulted me once again into my current project called The Golden Years. This portrait series of mine aims to portray the elderly population in dignified fashion and then highlight their lives and accomplishments. This project has been in the works for many years and suddenly came to life after the losses of my grandmother and many honourable and vulnerable seniors during this global epidemic. I have painted a portrait of my grandmother called Stairway to Heaven as a tribute to her loving memory and a broad series of portraits portraying other elders in vibrant colours. The elderly population will now be remembered and celebrated in my social art project. https://juliocesarts.com/golden-years
The portraits are of a diverse number of people from different racial and economic backgrounds to highlight the importance of diversity and equality to represent them regardless of their social status or commissioning to produce them. I hope to impact viewers with the vibrancy of my portraits using the medium of paint and convey the need for renewal in society. I believe that my art project can also shift our paradigms and the way that we think about the elderly population. It honours and celebrate the elderly so that they will have a more visible and dignified standing in our society. After the project being spotted in a publication, I was invited to Dublin University by Yellow Window a European think tank, commissioned by the European Union and United Nations to research on the many issues in the pubic sector and social services that have came to light during the pandemic that were lacking or failing the elderly. Resistiré https://zenodo.org/records/5361042 was a three year project and had the great privilege to take part on the concluding open studio lab of the project with a group of researchers, service providers in the elderly sector and sociology university professors to analyse the projects results and brainstorm to come up with solutions for the existing problems to conclude the project with an extensive report to advise policy makers world wide on ways to rectify existing ones and advice for new ones.
VOLUNTEERING WORK
I became an embassador to Outside In a catalyst for change. Founded in 2006, it is now an established national charity that aims to provide a platform for artists who face significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance or isolation. I also volunteer as a mentor and delivered courses in prison for offenders with only Connect a London’s creative criminal justice charity, rooted in community. Their vision is a more connected, human and just society, where we all choose a crime free life.
I have the privilege of being a member of the alumni group of The Prisoners' Education Trust (PET) as it is more than just an organisation – it is a community of learners, educators, and advocates working to transform lives behind bars. Every year, they empower 1,500 individuals to pursue their education and build a brighter future through the power of knowledge. Our alumni, all of whom have experienced the penal system first hand, serve as a living testament to the impact of education. They come together regularly, share their unique insights, and collaboratively work to overcome the challenges that exist within the prison system.
Before the pandemic the community connectors group from Southern Housing and I created and delivered a pilot of workshops for the residents of my state with the aim of building bridges between the isolated elderly residents, young people and their families, using art as a tool to integrate them and after six weeks it was a success, but unfortunately could not be rolled out due to the pandemic evolving shortly after.
I have done talks online for the local group of painting appreciation of my local Age Uk.
I have also done talks in schools and with youth programs telling my story of how I overturned the negative experience of being detained to the positive outcome of becoming a painter and through out my life all my projects have been community driven.
Now, at a pivotal point in my career, I've received recognition for my abstract painting. In 2023, I was named the Most Innovative Abstract Artist of the Year by The LUXGlobal Excellence Award and the Most Innovative Freelance Abstract Artist of the Year by AI Global Media, during their Best in Business Awards 2023. These accolades affirm my dedication to pushing boundaries and redefining the abstract art scene. Inspired by the impact of the pandemic on internet pornography consumption/entertainment, which continues my tradition of addressing social issues through my art.
ART PROJECTS
WHAT MAKES AN ARTIST
The following is an interview that I did of one of the art tutors at Wandsworth prison that I met when I was there and who came along to my first exhibition after my released and his view on my approach to painting while there.
https://youtu.be/9GXul3DUZd4?feature=shared
SAFE JHONNY
An animation produced in prison aimed at the youth to highlight the importance of using condoms as a precaution for sexual health and unwanted pregnancies.
https://youtu.be/DfBRXYCfGVo?feature=shared
AN ARTIST WITHOUT IDENTITY
For an artist, the journey to gain an identity is a long and lonely road. Having discovered the great therapeutic benefits of art for the soul while incarcerated and my ability to paint was a god’s sent gift.
Being an artist while in prison I had not only my freedom taken away, but also my identity and two and a half years after being freed, my identity still remained restrained till the end of my parol in March 2017!
The following is a digital story made as part of the Stretch Digital project funded by the Big Lottery in collaboration with the PET (Prisoner Education Trust) – the films are made with Stretch practitioner Alex Harwood in the traditional digital story method. Former prisoners tell their story of education and rebuilding their lives in and out of prison.
https://youtu.be/aDW7554kUZ4?feature=shared
TRUE WEST - MY FIRST EVER ACTING PERFORMANCE
https://youtu.be/hmic02XUw7s?feature=shared
EDGE OF EXISTENCE TRAILER
In 2007 I traveled to Leticia, to join the National University of Colombia’s team to travel to Puerto Nariño, the town at the border of the nature reserve. I filmed them as they met several NGOs and government officials to start talks with representatives of each of the 48 communities which live in the nature reserve and discuss all the difficulties they were experiencing with education, health, farming, fishing and sustainability.
“I feel compelled to return to the region a decade later to see what impact, if any, this new strategy had on the communities. Whether they were thriving or still dying…
”https://youtu.be/IugYuolrxrg?feature=shared
THE STRUGGLE STILL GOES ON
Francisco joined Marxist rebels, the FARC through anger at injustice and inequality in Colombia. The anger remained when he quit and came to the UK but his disillusion extended to guerrillas also pursuing power over peace.
The pain of losing his mother while fighting and visions of friends dying still haunt him. He fell into alcohol abuse, failed marriages as he met his match in London’s urban jungle. We follow his battle in the UK and in Colombia to face his demons and find his peace, now the 52-year conflict has ended.
https://youtu.be/SsADceKaEfk?feature=shared
NANNA GONNA GO SOMEWHERE - Music video
One sunny afternoon Klumzy Tung went home a bit mellowed and picked up the guitar. Excited by the new sound card that had been kindly given to him by Beardyman he plugged it in and got rolling on t...
We met an afternoon where I decided to do a video for one of his songs and this is the end result.
https://youtu.be/4UPvzYa4v7c?feature=shared
PRESS ARTICLES
SOUTH BANK EXHIBITION POSTER IMAGE ARTICLE
Benjamin Zephaniah - Poet, writer, lyricist and musician.
"Julio is a cool cat. I became aware of his work when I used one of his paintings as the poster image for an exhibition I was curating on the Southbank in London. It was the stand out piece of the exhibition. His work is vibrant, intelligent, relevant, and quirky. I love his work. Welcome to his world."
DETAILED INTERVIEW ON MY CHILDHOOD AND ARTIST JOURNEY
https://www.artistcloseup.com/blog/interview-julio-cesar-osorio
GOLDEN YEARS ARTICLE
THE FEMALE BODY AS A CANVAS PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT
In 2000, my dissertation explored the evolution of the female body and sexuality in advertising, as well as the activists who challenged these portrayals. Eleven years later, as I transitioned from documentary photography to studio work, I revisited this subject. I was struck by how the internet had made such imagery more accessible to younger audiences, and how societal boundaries and acceptance had shifted. This inspired my project: using the nude female form as a canvas to convey powerful social messages. By applying paint in visually striking ways, I aim to distract the viewer from the nudity itself and instead focus attention on the issues, stereotypes, inhibitions, and misconceptions that women face daily. This is a direct counterpoint to the way advertising often exploits female sexuality.
https://juliocesarts.com/body-painting
AMAZON DOCUMENTARY (ON THE EDGE OF EXISTENCE) PHOTOESSAY AND ARTICLE
https://lensmagazine.net/julio-cesar-osorio/
BOOK ARTICLE
https://www.artealdia.com/Edicion-Impresa/116_Octubre_-_Noviembre_2006/REVIEWS_-_JULIO_CESAR_OSORIO
BOOK DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHS/MORE
https://youpic.com/julioosorio6
MY EXHIBITION HISTORY
https://juliocesarts.com/exhibition%20history