To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of LVA’s Art [squared] Event to Benefit Children’s Fine Art Classes, we will feature five local artists who are contributing 24” x 24” paintings to be sold at the event through a Silent Auction. Today we highlight Ewa Perz:

"Peonies" by Ewa Perz, Oil on wood, 24x36in, 2017, $1800

Art isn’t easy. It demands commitment and effort over time - in a word: passion. When one listens to Ewa Perz talk about her studio practice, there can be no doubt that there is great drive and energy driving her work, but it also reads in the images and their sensuous color and texture. The loose applications of marks that belie the discipline underlying each decision.

“I paint for myself. I paint for my family, I paint to cope with my emotions, and I paint to fill up an empty room. But most importantly, I paint for the color. I see a world defined by its color, whereas others see it defined by shape. To me, color is what bares the essence of an object, and that is what I seek to portray. Forget about the strict lines of realism or the literal composition of reality, instead, by painting with a loose hand and abbreviated images, color is what comes forth as the main element and takes over my paintings.”

"Atlas Copy" by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 60x30in, 2017, $3800 — "Atlas Copy" by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 60x30in, 2017, $3800

“Painting is my journey through life. It is an exhausting, exhilarating, and frustrating task. Colors have faded and gone wrong, proportions have morphed, and canvases have warped, only to be stretched again. Yet whatever I go through, whatever obstacle that comes in my way, I simply cannot stop loving it. Painting is my passion, it is my love, and it is my life.

Although Perz counts Joseph Sargent and Henri Matisse as influences, she has studied with Felo Garcia in Costa Rica and David Laffel in Santa Fe, both of whom she calls, “contemporary masters”.

Her paintings are currently on display in Revelry Gallery Boutique, Tim Faulkner’s Gallery, European Splendor, Anne Tower Gallery (Lexington), Art on the Levee (Cincinnati), and Galerie Municipale (France). Her paintings have been featured in galleries in US, as well as Mexico, and France.

Perz’s one-person show, Water Strokes, was at Revelry Gallery in November 2017. In May 2018, she will be the first artist to exhibit in the new AC Hotel when it opens in the NuLu neighborhood in Louisville.

"Silent Composition" by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 24x24in, 2018, Available by Silent Auction at Art[squared]

Hometown: Gdansk, Poland
Education: Masters in Plant Physiology
Website: http://www.ewaperzgallery.com
Gallery Representation: Revelry Gallery, (Louisville) Ann Tower Gallery, (Lexington), Gallery Municipale, (Antibes, France)