Jude Wolf: Exploring Gender, Nature, and Art

Jude Wolf: Exploring Gender, Nature, and Art

Ruby Harris, Associate Editor

Jude Wolf is a wonder to behold, creating a wondrous portfolio of art that combines gender and nature to create a unique and fresh style that is extremely thought provoking. As a non binary person, Jude based their art portfolio around, “an exploration of my personal identity and relationship with my body and gender through the representation of human figures and nature”. Delving into interesting ideas of what it means to be a trans person, and much more. 

With depictions of androgynous forms surrounded by various flora, and song beautifully crafted self portraits, Jude explored the coexistence of themselves with nature, fighting the trans phobic excuse that trans people and nature are not synonymous. Jude reclaims this idea with pieces of them holding a swan, or their head attached to a masculine body meditating surrounded by jellyfish. They also assigned colors to represent gender vs. nature, having purple represent the idea of living outside of the cis binary and green to represent nature. As a person, Wolf exists outside the binary therefore outside of the world of art. “I think from an inspiration standpoint, it [being a queer artist] is also hard, because there really aren’t many trans famous artists out there. You could argue there is a lot of queer artists, but still not many”, Jude explains, describing their experience as a queer artist. Finding space within an age old profession is never easy, yet Jude makes it look effortless while creating pieces that help to understand their personal and artistic journey. Gathering inspiration from artists like Van Gogh in order to craft dreamlike backgrounds that transport you to a new world, Wolf utilizes the collaging technique to aid their creation. Layering graphic, beautiful imagery over hand drawn figures, the pieces come to life and truly evoke a wondrous response. 

The pandemic gave Jude a chance to truly grow creatively, exploring the process of crafting work in their own unique way. “ I sort of just go with the flow, and every piece goes differently…but really for every single piece, I had not one clue how it would look at the end when I started”,  Wolf states describing their process. This idea of going with the flow has allowed them to take time and form their work in an organic way that attributes to the genuinity of their art. During the pandemic, Jude had time to experiment and work on their craft, enjoying not having to show unfinished work or have a teacher telling them what to do. It was a time of creative freedom that Wolf took advantage of, one that paid off. Wolf enjoys using different mediums, starting with one thing and then, “ just get drawn to using 10 other mediums. I really love using anything, but I definitely stick to more colorful things. I would say the only thing that is consistent in every piece is some sort of collage element. I like putting things together “. Putting things together is a great way to describe Jude and their work. Piecing their gender identity into their work, they express the trans identity and help develop the idea that gender is truly a spectrum, and one with nature. 

Jude Wolf’s art is a joyous expression of gender through the eyes of nature. Their work can and should be marveled at for it’s impactful message and visual beauty. Finding their place as a queer artist in a turbulent world, Jude makes their identity known in a wondrous way. 

If you would like to look at Jude’s portfolio, here is a link: Jude Wolf AP Art Portfolio

Check out their Instagram as well: @Judecwolf