About
Eva (Commentary by Matthew Tree,
Anglo-Catalan writer living and working in Barcelona)
It would be just too easy, too cosy, too convenient, to claim that Eva Bosch's work, especially over the last few years, has been influenced principally by that of her fellow Catalans Salvador Dalí (the dreamlike quality), Joan Miró (the quirky, unpredictable shapes) or Antoni Tàpies (the use of collage effect and diverse materials). Certainly these influences, some conscious, others less so, are present in many of her paintings, but when you look at these more carefully it becomes clear that Bosch has delved into many other potential sources of inspiration, which, unlike the three artists mentioned above, are far removed from her in time and often in place as well.
Some of her titles ('Africa Drawing', 'Africa Hombre Cerilla') give the game away from the start: her true concern is with the primitive, but in the sense of 'original', 'primary', or 'not derived' (the definitions are from Webster), and not the more commonly used one of 'crude' or 'rudimentary'.
Her acknowledged fascination with cave art, African art, and the art of the ancient cities of Asia Minor is not, for her, a simple question of aesthetics.
It is the excitement of contact with the earliest known attempts to depict the physical world, which still retain their capacity to astound, which still hint at their original magical intentions. This excitement, profoundly felt, is at the heart of the very best of Eva Bosch's work, recreating as it does the sense of wonder that emanates from the finest 'primitive' painting. Her work, then, complies with that condition which William Burroughs claimed was essential for any art which deserves the name: it has to 'make things happen' as he put it, that is to reach out to the onlooker and eliminate his or her initial inertia and indifference. Eva Bosch's live and astonishing paintings do precisely that.
Reflections on my work Process
The development of modern technology and the extraordinary new possibilities offered to image makers has created the need to look back to ancient art with the hope of finding clues to read with fresh eyes and follow up using new tools.
My interest in antiquity dates back to my early childhood in a mountain village. I grew up surrounded by Neolithic petroglyphs and Iberian settlements.
The community's religious rituals were a mixture of paganism and fundamentalist Christianity. The former was haunting, the latter disturbing but instructive.
My comprehensive art education included the RCA (Royal College of Art) after an intense year in Italy painting in a secluded village in the mountains. The richly descriptive approach and oneiric imagery I had picked up in England were cut loose in Amsterdam by the Puritanism of the Dutch School, leaving me reduced to my bare bones, so to speak, and ready to return home. There I started to paint fragmented imagery, perhaps as a means of moving away from figurative work that felt rhetorical and repetitive. I then tried to understand further the use of light via colour and my images became limited to amorphous - and sometimes geometrical - forms. This process was concluded a decade later in England where I started to use bitumen, wax, varnishes and similar materials as well as drips in order to draw, partly in response to the simplicity of a group of statuettes I saw at the British Museum, originally from Benin in Africa. The Benin imagery and African drums helped me take a more direct approach to drawing, paradoxically getting rid of frills by daring to include them in my painting.
During these past five years, due to a certain extent to my work as a teacher, research in art libraries has garnered me a large collection of images ranging from Palaeolithic paintings from caves and
rocks in Spain to the Neolithic frescoes of Çatalhöyük in Turkey as well as those of a later date found in the excavated remains of the civilization that existed in Mohenjo Daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley, Pakistan.
My first live experience with iron oxide red paint on bare rock, free from glass screens in museums, was two years ago, in the Serra de Godall in Ulldecona, Spain. A composition of a group of images of humans and animals, mostly deer in full flight, dating from 6000-5000BC. Some figures are carrying bows and arrows and some animals appear to have been wounded, hence it could be a hunting scene. A passive figure with a long ponytail holding with both hands a stick like a broom between his/her legs is standing motionless on the left, observing the scene.
Never before had a painting had such a powerful effect on me.
From then on, I have been experimenting with iron oxide paints on bare MDF and awkward surfaces. Last summer I visited Çatalhöyük in the Anatolian planes of Konya in Turkey where, in 1960, the archaeologist James Mellaart found and started to excavate a 9000 year old city. There he dug out frescoes and statuettes that revealed extraordinary carving skills and considerable powers of observation. Unfortunately, most of the frescoes were destroyed by light and oxygen, as they were exposed to the air, although some are kept at the Anatolian Museum in Ankara. Years later Ian Hodder, another archaeologist, continued the process that Mellaart started. He applies a post-processual method to archaeology, exploring areas such as post-structuralism and neo-evolutionary theory as well as phenomenology. In his new approach, he welcomes other disciplines and I therefore plan to work next to his team and produce a series of works inspired by, and responding to, what the team is excavating in Çatalhöyük.
2007
Symposium at Ngayene, Senegal.
Excavation of a cemetery with megalithic monuments.
Colaboration with Augustin F.C. Holl, Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Afroamerican and African studies, and Curator of West African Archaeology in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan
2007
Artist in Residence Tainan National University of the Arts. Tainan, Taiwan (ROC)
2002
Workshop with 20 International painters and sculptors
VI Xuntanxa Internacional das Artes Plasticas "A Solaina de Pilono" Fundacion Casa Museo
(Pontevedra) Galicia , Spain
1995
Pollock-Krasner 1995 Award, New-York, USA .
1994
Residency of 3 month at Casa Manilva. Studio and living facilities. The Delfina Studios Trust, London , England
1987-1986
Bursary received from the Dutch Government to study in Amsterdam . This bursary is given once a year in Holland .
1986-1983
Scholarship received from the Royal College of Art to study in Paris . Atelier of the RCA in the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2010
The Lloyd Gill Gallery Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset UK
The Oneiric image: symbols, automatism and the language of dreams
2005
Dulwich Festival Art : Open Studios
2002-2003 "Arte axuda Galicia"
Travelling exhibition,Vilagarcía, Vigo, Ourense, San Sebastián,
Santiago de Compostela y Pontevedra
2002
Exhibition at Museo "Ramon Ma. Aller" Lalin (Pontevedra).
2001
Starting a Collection - Art First. London , England
2000
Harlech Biennale 2000 ( Spain , Holland , France ) Wales
1999
100, Park Lane - Hammerson, London , England
1998
Honiton Festival, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, Devon , England
1998
Addison Wesley Longman "Global", Harlow, Essex , England
1997
Andy Stewart and Eva Bosch
The Eagle Gallery, London , England
1997
Art-97, Islington, The Eagle Gallery, London , England
1996
Winter Exhibition. Collyer-Bristow Gallery, London , England
1996
Harlech Art Biennale, Harlech, North Wales
1996
"Down to Earth/ De Peus a Terra" Together with Christopher Cook, Eileen Cooper and Ken Kiff. Travelling exhibition starting in Galeria 4rt Barcelona and then Lamont Gallery, London, England
1996
3 Painters Exhibition ( Germany , Holland and Spain ), Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings. Seu Consell Municipal Districte de Nou Barris Barcelona , Spain .
1987
"Wintertuinen" Rijksacademie, Amsterdam , Holland
1987
Peter de Francia and his pupils. Camden Art Centre, London, England
1987
Leicestershire Art Exhibition, Leicester , England
1986
Pirelli Calendar 1986, London, England
1986
Batersea Arts Centre "Art on Paper" London, England
1986
Cheltenham Exhibition of Painters for the R.C.A., Cheltenham, England
1985
Nine Painters Exhibition - Roger Francis Gallery, London, England
1985
R.C.A. 20nd year Painting Show, London, England
1985
Whitechapel Open Exhibition 1985, London, England
1985
I.B.M. Exhibition of Eight Painters from R.C.A. London, England
1985
Japan International students exhibition Kobe, Japan
1984
Stowell's Trophy - Royal Academy of Art, London, England
1984
Royal Academy summer Show, London, England
1984
Bakehouse Gallery Open Drawing'84 London, England
1984
The Camden Annual (Commended), London, England
1984
The Royal Overseas League Art Exhibition, London, England
1984
Finalist at the Bath Contemporary Art Fair Bath, England
1983
Sheffield Open Exhibition, Mappin Gallery, Sheffield, England
Art and Politics: Joan Miró Study Day
The Ladder of Escape, Tate Modern 2011
Saturday 25 June 2011, 10.30-17.00
This Study Day explores issues raised by the major exhibition of Joan Miró at Tate Modern. Starting from the surrealist context of Miró's art it moves to the broader theme of the complex relationship between art and politics. Speakers address a range of issues, from the specific contexts in which Miró worked, to the 'radicalism' of surrealism. Curators, academics and artists
contribute to the debates. Speakers include artists Frederic Amat and Eva Bosch, art historians and curators Jon Bird, William Jeffett, Robert Lubar and Gill Perry, philosopher Nigel Warburton, and curators of the Miró exhibition Matthew Gale and Marko Daniel.
In collaboration with The Open University
Supported by the Institut Ramon Llull
Research Project - Summer 2007 www.catalhoyuk.com Residency at Catalhöyük, Turkey. July-August 2007
I collaborated with scientists and a laboratory at a field station in Turkey, where archaeologists are excavating a city dating back 9000 years. I also researched sound, light and shadow. sample:
www.evabosch.co.uk/videos.html
I got permission to bring back remains of floor plaster powder dating 7000BC and will experiment using similar pigments to the ancient originals as well as making a series of large paintings. I am working in a project that aspires at making a statement about the relationship between the ancient and the present as well as about the importance of culture and communication. I plan to make a series of large paintings on canvas as well as on small surfaces using the ancient plaster powder that I have brought back from Turkey. My materials will include a selection of pigments and medium used by the people of the Anatolian city of Catalhoyuk 9000 years ago to decorate their homes with paintings and relieves. I am at present researching this. All the materials come from natural products including Hematites and flowers. Parallel to the paintings I plan to make a video using the footing I took in the ancient city based on light and shadow. Sound is also crucial for the video and London's varied ethnicity can provide this for me. I will manipulate words from as many languages as I can find amongst the varied ethnic community of my Borough.
