Occupied Spaces: Work by Justin Shull

Justin finds inspiration the landscape. He is especially interested in the interaction between the built environment and its geography, trees and plants, and in the quality of light and color unique to each location.  In his paintings, trees, buildings, telephone poles, plants and geography are all cast members interacting on a stage. The story they tell is the story of how we create our environment and how it shapes us. Justin thinks of each painting as building an image that captures something of an individual landscape’s growth and it’s unique environmental conditions. He works in a variety of media, including oil paint, gouache, acrylic, and wood, handmade paper, and sculpture.

Justin Shull was born in Newport, New Hampshire in 1982 and currently lives and works in Traverse City, Michigan. Justin received a BA in Studio Art from Dartmouth College and a MFA in Visual Arts from Rutgers. His work has been exhibited and collected nationally, and he has won several national awards from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the College Art Association, and the International Sculpture Center.