Born in São Paulo, Brazil.
Based in San Francisco.
Artist, teacher, and student.
julnicul@gmail.com
2026 — Bachelor of Arts - Studio Art, SFSU, San Francisco, CA
2025 — Associate of Arts - Studio Art, City College of San Francisco, CA
2025 — Arts & Humanities; Social & Behavioral Sciences, City College of San Francisco, CA
Previous Study — Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
2025 — Associate of Arts - Studio Art, City College of San Francisco, CA
2025 — Arts & Humanities; Social & Behavioral Sciences, City College of San Francisco, CA
Previous Study — Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
EXPERIENCE
Teaches oil pastel and soft pastel classes for adults.
Teaches drawing, acrylic painting, and air-dry clay sculptures for kids.
Taught charcoal and acrylic painting classes for adults.
Teaches drawing, acrylic painting, and air-dry clay sculptures for kids.
Taught charcoal and acrylic painting classes for adults.
2022 — Art Department Award, Juried Student Exhibition, City College of San Francisco, CA
2026 — SOUP!, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — 39th Annual SFSU Stillwell Student Exhibition, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Do You See Me?, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Juntes (Together), Rosebud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — OH!, Haddon Hill Cafe, Oakland, CA
2026 — Heated Artistry, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2025 — Vulnerability is a Burning Red, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2025 — 38th Annual SFSU Stillwell Student Exhibition, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2022 — Juried Student Exhibition, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2026 — 39th Annual SFSU Stillwell Student Exhibition, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Do You See Me?, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Juntes (Together), Rosebud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — OH!, Haddon Hill Cafe, Oakland, CA
2026 — Heated Artistry, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2025 — Vulnerability is a Burning Red, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2025 — 38th Annual SFSU Stillwell Student Exhibition, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2022 — Juried Student Exhibition, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Listening to the Third Ear, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Fragments of Being, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2026 — Fragments of Being, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
I am a Brazilian artist from São Paulo based in San Francisco, living between Portuguese and English. This in-between, or “third space,” where meaning shifts, fragments, overlaps, and sometimes fails, grounds my practice. I investigate how language constructs reality and how culture shapes identity and belonging, approaching communication not as a neutral exchange but as a bodily, emotional, and cultural condition. I experience both communication and identity as layered, fractured, and unresolved; these tensions drive my work.
Words, idioms, expressions, and the nuances of translation often initiate my process. Working primarily in mixed-media sculpture and installation, I give physical form to intangible ideas, feelings, and linguistic contradictions. My process is conceptually driven but materially exploratory: I select materials for their symbolic associations as well as their textures, colors, temperatures, and aesthetic qualities. As I work, experimentation and problem-solving shape the outcome, often leading the finished piece somewhere I had not initially anticipated.
Fragments of the body, including ears, tongues, and hands, recur in my work, often cast from my own body, evoking the physical acts of listening, speaking, and communicating. I am drawn to absurdity and to the ways familiar forms can become strange, unsettling, or unexpected. My work often brings serious subject matter into tension with playful materials and an aesthetic that can veer toward the campy, grotesque, or uncanny. Rather than replicate reality, I create unexpected relationships that invite viewers to pause, question, and look again.
The physical encounter with my work is an essential part of its meaning. I often construct pieces with multiple sides, layers, or perspectives, inviting viewers to move around them and discover what is not immediately visible. Through these shifting encounters, I explore how meaning is communicated, interpreted, and misinterpreted. By giving physical form to internal sensations and intangible experiences, I create objects and spaces in which meaning remains open to discovery and negotiation.
Jules Niculitcheff is a Brazilian artist from São Paulo based in San Francisco whose practice explores language, cultural identity, and the possibilities and limitations of communication. Having grown up speaking Portuguese and later navigating life in English, Niculitcheff is interested in how meaning shifts across languages and cultures, and how these shifts shape experiences of identity and belonging.
Her artistic practice has developed through different educational experiences in São Paulo and San Francisco. Early experimentation with drawing and collage gradually expanded into mixed-media sculpture and installation. Across these forms, she combines materials and imagery to give physical form to language, idioms, and intangible experiences, often bringing serious subject matter into tension with playful, absurd, or unsettling aesthetics. Her work invites viewers to encounter familiar ideas from unexpected perspectives.
Alongside her artistic practice, she teaches art to children and adults. This experience has informed her thinking about communication, particularly how the words we choose and the ways we listen shape our interactions with others.
Jules Niculitcheff studied at Belas Artes University of São Paulo and received an Associate of Arts degree from City College of San Francisco in 2025. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts from San Francisco State University in 2026. Her work has been exhibited at City College of San Francisco, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, Haddon Hill Cafe, and Rosebud Gallery, and has received an award from the City College of San Francisco Art Department.