Featured Artist Eva Lewarne

Using signature pixelated shapes, artist Eva Lewarne paints images that address gender and social justice issues. Visit her website to learn more about her work.

 

 

Friendly Pixels, a new series I am developing, came about from my need to create some order out of the world’s present chaos; the tendency towards totalitarianism; a dismaying lack of respect for the feminine in every aspect of life, including the arts, where a majority of graduates from art college are women and not even a tenth of them are being shown in galleries or museums.

 

 

And last, but not least, a bridge from the expulsive art with no thought behind it, like the new “spin art,” created by throwing paint on a moving canvas and spinning it around, to something not totally regressively traditional. The spin fad is not unlike, perhaps, the roulette table. It points to our present penchant for gambling, leaving everything to chance rather than thinking about how and what to create and what does it communicate and doing some work on ourselves in the process.

 

 

Our intellectualism is dying even in academia circles. Thus the “Thinker.” Some part-time professors are having to top up their salaries with sex work.

 

 

Also, I am rebelling somewhat from the push towards digital arts—art that is factory polished and lacking in an intuitive handmade feel. Art that is fast-moving but does not inspire contemplation. Thus, the pixels. Mine are friendlier I feel, because art done by hand is still more alive and capable of expressing emotions.

 

 

My most recent work, “Couplet,” is about the feminine needing to have strength or backbone grit in our time. It does not necessarily mean brittle rigidity, but more of the softness and flexibility of a willow tree that bends with the wind but does not break. A couplet is a poem. This one refers to the need for community, not just me, me, me—the need to look after each other because we are all humans.

 

 

The saying that having balls is being tough is wrong. Balls are in fact very fragile, as man’s violent strength will easily crumble under fire. The vagina, the feminine however, can take a pounding as they say.

 

 

“Surrender” isn’t about being passive. It is about being open, to life, to intuition, to the muse. It is not an ego vomit on canvas. It takes practice and skill to be open to that. It takes some order.

 

 

The feminine takes refuge in Nature, thus “Refuge” was born and “If Not For You.” “How many Times” is about violence against women that is talked a lot about, but nothing much changes it seems.

 

 

Women have wild souls that carry deep intuitive thought, but often they are raised to be Barbie dolls for men’s pleasure. As society makes progress, the fate of women keeps regressing. Margaret Atwood’s prophetic book “Handmaiden’s Tale” is being born in reality as we speak in Trump’s America.

 

 

Technology is fun and useful, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. Painting will always live. A Van Gogh seen live talks to your soul in a way no digital print will ever be capable of.

 

Artist Eva Lewarne invites you to follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and her Blog.

 

Want to stay current on cutting edge business articles from Artsy Shark, plus artist features, and an invitation to the next Call for Artists? Subscribe to our twice-monthly Updates, and get a free e-book on Where to Sell Art Online right now!