Julita Elbe, originally from Warsaw, resides in Münster, Germany. Having studied design at the local university of Applied Sciences, she now works as a freelance designer while pursuing her own artistic projects. Inspired by nature and architecture, Julita explores organic forms, lines, and patterns, along with subtle colors and material structures. Her aim is to liberate architectural and natural elements from their original context, presenting them with a fresh aesthetic expression. Throughout the creative process, the organic appearance of colors and the tactile quality of paper play a vital role.

Torn tissue paper on a sheet of cotton

Take the sheet first. Handmade cotton paper, about 38 by 55 centimetres, with an image of 30 by 40 placed inside it and a wide, uneven margin left all round. On that surface Julita Elbe lays fragments of coloured tissue paper and fixes them with acrylic. The tissue is thin enough for the fibres of the cotton to show through where a single layer sits alone; where three or four overlap, the colour closes up and the edges of the fragments read as drawn lines. No brush marks to speak of. The composition is made by placing, not by painting, which is why the works sit as readily among paintings on paper as among drawings.

Julita Elbe was born in Warsaw and lives in Münster, where she studied design at the university of applied sciences; she still works as a freelance designer alongside her own practice. Two sources feed the collages, nature and architecture, and the stated aim is to take an element out of either (a stem, a facade line, a shadow) and set it down in a new context. Winter Flowers, Silent Flower and At the Moment keep the botanical origin legible: one bloom, three or four shapes. Fragment, Purpose, Wind Touch and Follow The Sun drop the reference and keep only the patches of colour and the lines between them, which places them closer to contemporary abstract art than to the botanical sheet.

The one named series in Julita Elbe's collection. Stone and Gap No.02/26, No.05/22 and No.06 each set a dense, stone-like mass against an area of paper left open: the gap. No.02/26 and No.06 are in the smaller 20 by 30 centimetre format, on sheets of 28 by 39; No.05/22 is 30 by 40. Three sheets hung in a row at the same height make a sequence, and the gaps start to read across the frames. The twelve works at The Oblist are all one-offs. They are sold unframed, and the margin is part of the sheet.

Julita Elbe's collages are listed with exact sheet and image dimensions within the gallery's wall art selection. Architects and interior designers sourcing small-format originals for a residential project place their order via the Trade Program.