Julie Shiels

Piecework

November 14th – December 13th, 2025

Renaissance art is an unlikely catalyst for a photographic series of incidental abstractions. In Piecework, the drapery often painted in Masters’ workshops by anonymous assistants becomes a new resource.

Initially snapped on a mobile phone, these detailed studies are untethered from the grand narratives and technical challenges of 13th—16th century European painting. Removed from their contexts, the images exhibit formal concerns with abstraction—line, colour, form, texture, and composition.

When contemporary aesthetics and modes of production are introduced, Renaissance-era canvases become photographs that mimic contemporary painting styles. Pop Art and its association with mass production is digitally reprised through the introduction of halftone screens that emphasise lines, curves, and folds.  

Piecework reflects on the nature of creative work, divisions of labour, modes of production, and the complexities of authorship. Regardless of the digital pairings and processes, the images hold a sensory echo of bodies painted more than six centuries ago.