Eva Bosch

Artist Statement

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 Dal (the dreamlike quality), Joan Mir (the quirky, unpredictable shapes) or Antoni Tapies (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.