EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH EVA BELISHOVA - DESTIG TOP ARTIST FOR 2019.
Tell us about yourself and your background.
I have a vivid imagination, curiosity for the latest in science, metaphysics, love for nature, and deep compassion for human kind. My memory of my childhood years is playing outdoors until dawn with friends, among them my best friend; my identical twin. Reaching puberty, my father one of the best physicians in the country was sentenced to ten years in prison for his political beliefs. At an early age I understood what it meant to live under a dictatorship regime and learned to stand up to humiliation, to lies, and the corruption of a decadent government. In my early 20’s my siblings and I managed to enter the Italian embassy and seek political asylum. One year after we moved to US and have been here since.
Why is your work unique?
I approach my painting purely intuitively even though I had years of training in classical painting. Eighteen years of painting gave me the wisdom to know that an artist never stops learning.
Tell us about yourself and your background.
I have a vivid imagination, curiosity for the latest in science, metaphysics, love for nature, and deep compassion for human kind. My memory of my childhood years is playing outdoors until dawn with friends, among them my best friend; my identical twin. Reaching puberty, my father one of the best physicians in the country was sentenced to ten years in prison for his political beliefs. At an early age I understood what it meant to live under a dictatorship regime and learned to stand up to humiliation, to lies, and the corruption of a decadent government. In my early 20’s my siblings and I managed to enter the Italian embassy and seek political asylum. One year after we moved to US and have been here since.
Why is your work unique?
I approach my painting purely intuitively even though I had years of training in classical painting. Eighteen years of painting gave me the wisdom to know that an artist never stops learning.
"Eighteen years of painting gave me the wisdom to know that an artist never stops learning."
Tell us about your work.
I’m not concerned with realism or method, I don’t do preliminary work, little to any. I approach the subject with pure spontaneity. While painting I listen to music. The beat tapping through my sub-consciousness helps me reach and explore the deepest, darkest emotional territories; Angels & Demons, who fight on our plane in forms of our relationships, to self, to others, to the imagined. Through my artwork I learned to embrace it all, the good and the evil. At times I look at the World through the magic crystal at other times time ironically and thoughtfully. I understand what it is like to live in a perfect imperfect world, how heartbreaking it is, and how wonderful it is. My work is therefore spiritual and about seeking knowledge of being human in the altogether inhuman World.
My paintings are deeply vibrant, lush, and electric. The color palette varies according to the subject. Most of the multilayers of color glazing are done on the canvas where the exuberance of color fields merges with disparate images. I strongly believe that my life remains an unfinished canvas!
How do you want your art to affect the world?
My artwork allows and invites the viewers to their own interpretation. As my Art is an invitation for a journey into the Kingdom of the Soul, and the Soul of humans is unique. Art seems to me to be above all a State of the Soul. Only through our Souls we are connected with the World, with the viewers, with the others, even with ourselves.
"My work is therefore spiritual and about seeking knowledge of being human in the altogether inhuman World."
Why is your work a good investment?
Invest in what you really love and trust your judgment.
Tell us about your achievements.
I have pursued my artistic ambitions for almost two decades, I have been featured in juried shows and galleries in the San Francisco bay area. I have been part of Marin Open Studios, a yearly art event in Marin County. My work is part of private collections in San Francisco, London, and New York. A few years back my work was featured in Mapo newspaper and American Art Collector Book. Last year I was really excited to have my digital artwork used on the cover of several fiction books.
What are your sources of inspiration?
Music, I listen to a wide range from Paul Oakenfold , Metallica, The Doors, DMX, Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin and many others. The old masters- Rembrandt, Bosch, Brueghel, the impressionist- Pissarro Klimt and the moderns- De Koenig, Warhol, Rauschenberg. Scify movies, horror movies, the dark sub consciousness.
What are you passionate about?
Painting of course, digital artwork which I self taught myself two years ago, and short video installation, all can be seen on my instagram account #8labelis666.
"Art seems to me to be above all a State of the Soul. Only through our Souls we are connected with the World, with the viewers, with the others, even with ourselves."
Tell us the back-story of some of your projects.
"Figurative expressionism " gallery at www.artbyeva.com represents human emotions, like chameleons to their environment and surroundings, in different modes of adaptation in their life. That is manifested physically by painting humans with mechanical parts, humans hanging on time like the painting titled "Suspense" or deforming their body parts, or painting their ghoulish faces like the painting titled "The Gang of Four "or lifeless bodies like the paintings titled "black and white" all done with playful mastery, deep honesty, humiliation and care for human kind. The message stands for love and acceptance of all human kind.
“Phantasy Landscapes” gallery at www.artbyeva.com These visceral and whimsical paintings are a jazz riff off on the ordinary.
My rhythm takes the viewers into a fantastic World formed of trees and human hearts, bridges and lonely landscapes and melancholic women staring out at viewers from foreign lands, whispering to others, looking to understand the World and all its poetic glory.
"Invest in what you really love and trust your judgment."
Share with us some of your upcoming projects.
My third short video for Halloween 2019 will involve effects coded by myself in python, I’m still in the process of learning.
For the last couple years I used a combination of my own artwork and digital technology to create stunning visual effects for my two Halloween trailers one of them titled “ Number 8” and the other “The hunting” both can be viewed on my instagram account #8labelis666. I’m also having an upcoming group show at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Ca.
Tell us about where you are based.
“In the cloud “ since I like to see myself like Boris Pasternak “a dweller of clouds”. Geographically I live in Sausalito, a lovely little town by SF bay, five minutes from golden gate bridge and 15 min from San Francisco.
How do you feel about Art and its role in the world today?
Like G K Chesterton, I strongly believe Art is the only authentic signature of human beings.
Powerful, Internal, and Authentic.
Website: artbyeva.com
| PDF of the Interview in DESTIG Magazine |