Published: 31 Jan 2022
Eva Ullrich is auctioning 23 works direct from her studio. Eva is landscape painter who’s work leans towards abstraction. Her works are bold and confident yet emit an almost transcendental feeling of lightness and air, conveying form through delicate edges and tone. This Studio Sale is an opportunity to collect a variety of paintings from the last few years as well as a recent one-off panoramic landscape, her most ambitious painting to date. We spoke to Eva about her art, influences and inspiration.
How would you describe your art in one sentence?
Paintings which capture the essence of a place or experience.
What inspires and influences you?
Being surrounded by nature, whether just at home in the garden or out adventuring in more remote places, is a starting point and sharing the feelings that it evokes is a big motivator for me.
I have always had a playful fascination with the possibilities of paint, colour, and mark making and have been very influenced by the abstract expressionists and the quality of mark making present in calligraphy. I find Japanese printmakers like Hiroshige very pleasing for their precise simplicity and use of space. I'd like to think these influences show through in my work.
Eva Ullrich, Top 100 Exhibition
Are there any recurring themes in your work that are vital to your practice?
At its core my practice is about light and sculpting a space that the viewer can be transported to. Whether I’m painting in an abstract or a more representational way I am always aiming for the same thing; an expansive sense of space and light.
Can you describe your studio setup and your approach to creating?
I usually work on many paintings at once, regularly swapping from one to another.
I lay the canvas flat on a low bench building up multiple layers of acrylic with large brushes and squeegees, often wiping off as much paint as a put on! Even my simple paintings are made up of multiple layers.
When painting I am focused on the physicality of the process, I sometimes make small studies on location but primarily use photography as a form of note taking serving as a visual reminder once back in the studio. It is the memory or the feeling of a place which is most important to me.
Eva Ullrich in the studio.
What has been your proudest achievement to date?
Just before covid hit us I had a solo show in London and then another in Scotland shortly after. I have done a fair bit with The Auction Collective now, including ‘Enter the Abstract’ and ‘Top 100’, but the experience which still stands out for me was being one of six emerging artists selected to exhibit at the Royal Scottish Academy in GENERATION: OPEN DIALOGUES in 2014. I was really pleased with that show.
What are you currently working on?
I’ve recently moved from Bristol to the Lake District and this has given me a much larger studio enabling me to complete my largest painting yet, ‘Cloud break’ at over 5 meters long, which is available to buy in my studio sale. Is so exciting to have the space for more ambitious projects like this. I have also started a new ‘Water Series’, which has been inspired by my wild swimming experiences and came about as a way to free myself up from more conventional representations of landscape.
What is next for you and how can people follow what you are up to?
Alongside my usual practice, this year I am planning a project with the Wilderness Art Collective culminating in an event/exhibition here at my studio. You can see what I get up to via my website or Instagram.
Which living artists do you most admire?
I have always been very inspired by my good friend Rhiannon Inman-Simpson, her practice is so authentic and genuine and her work is beautiful. Recently I have discovered Nicole Mueller’s paintings, they are huge, so free and playful, simultaneously painterly and bold. It takes incredible physical strength and determination to paint like that.
What work of art, from either a public or private collection, would you love to have in your life?
If space was unlimited I would love a gigantic Per Kirkby canvas, particularly his later work. His use of colour, the energy in the marks and the scale he worked at is immense.
View Studio Sale | Eva Ullrich here