C O N T R O L   I S    A N    I L L U S I O N— 
M Y   A R T   B E G I N S    W H E R E    I T   
 B E C O M E S    V I S I B L E 

Faites vos jeux

The series Faites vos jeux (“Place your bets”) understands life as a sequence of decisions made within predetermined structures. The title refers to the moment in which action is required — under uncertainty and without full control over the outcome. 

A central element of the series is the checkerboard pattern, functioning as both a visual and conceptual grid. It symbolizes order, control, and the fundamental dualities of human existence such as life and death, victory and defeat. 

The resulting spaces appear both constructed and illusionistic. Perspectives shift, layers overlap, structures break apart or dissolve. Color acts as a counterforce to the rigidity of the grid, creating a tension between control and chance, rationality and emotion.

Over the Limit

At the center of the series Over the Limit is the human being in moments of physical and mental extremity. Medical knowledge, personal experience, and artistic intuition merge into emotionally charged visual worlds exploring performance, exhaustion, and self-transcendence. 

Inspired by triathlon, the works address both the fascination and the ambivalence of sport. Powerful compositions and expressive structures move between vulnerability, success, and loss of control — questioning the limits of human and medical endurance.

Biologicals

The title Biologicals connects life and human thought. It raises questions about illness, healing, life, and death. 

At the center of the series are monoclonal antibodies — modern biological therapies that have revolutionized medicine. Although they exist in reality, they remain invisible to the human eye and therefore appear almost mysterious. 

The works make these invisible structures visible. Molecular forms are artistically interpreted and translated into their own aesthetic language — situated between science, control, and emotion. 

The paintings address illness and transience, but also the human desire for control, hope, progress, and new possibilities in medicine. Each viewer encounters them through their own experiences, thoughts, and emotions.

Deus ex machina

2018 - 2019

B E T W E E N    C O N T R O L    A N D   C H A O S

Deus ex machina

In Greek tragedy, Deus ex machina describes the intervention of a higher power when human action and fate have become hopelessly entangled. 

As an ENT surgeon, Julia Dahm processes the world of the operating room in her painting — a place situated between control, precision, and reconstruction. Informal painterly gestures, anatomical fragments, and abstract structures give rise to visual spaces between chaos and order. 

The painting process itself becomes a metaphor for surgical work: an attempt to organize fragments, make interventions visible, and create a new whole out of complex situations.

Dr. med. Julia Dahm (*1977) studied Human Medicine in Essen (Germany) and works as an ENT specialist in St. Gallen (Switzerland). From 2016 to 2019, she studied at the European Academy of Fine Arts in Trier (Germany). Since then, she has been working as an independent artist in her studio in Düsseldorf. 

In her painting, she combines medical experience with a contemporary visual language. Her works move between order and loss of control, precision and emotion. Recurring elements such as checkerboard structures, organic forms, and free gestures reflect experiences from everyday medical practice — shaped by precision, overload, and fragility.