July Ancel is a painter based in Paris, France who combines the delicate process of drawing to capture a personal archaeology that carries an urban flair. Ancel’s mixed -medium technique utilizes light colors of paint to create backgrounds that reflect a mysterious atmosphere. The artist’s textured surfaces bear strong similarities to urban graffiti, placing them firmly in the moment of now.

Ancel works in large and small scale. Married Love (2009) is a small depiction on slate that portrays a hooded figure standing next to a curmudgeon with the faint colors of a rainbow arching over the wedded pair. A larger piece titled Don Quijote (2010) explores the tension that exists between the miniature and the gigantic. Within this vast 6-foot canvas, the artist applied the small outline of a man on horse within the lower left corner. Far away, in the upper right, Ancel depicts a small, circular village. Petite outlines of cars appear along the distance in between. Aucun de mes amis n’est au courant (2010) is another very small composition on slate that shows two legs lying on a bed on the far right, surrounded by a yellow halo that washes out into a green, blue and gray space.

In 2010, July Ancel completed her studies at the l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris. In 2012 Ancel had her first solo show titled Hercule at Galerie Premier Regard in Paris. She was also a fellow at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, Spain and winner of the first Antoine Marin Prize in Painting that was hosted by Galerie Municipal Julio Gonzalez.