Eva Ullrich

After studying the traditional rules of painting, such as color, composition and proportion for many years, German born artist Eva Ullrich decided to work against those rules to demonstrate their limitations. She is greatly inspired and finds encouragement by working together with well known painter Larry Poons. He stresses the importance of being absolutely non-judgmental about the work the artist produces and the essence of having no expectations.

“The moment you start thinking about art, you stop making art.” -Larry Poons

Eva Ullrich’s purpose as an artist is not to please, rather to confuse the viewer with her somewhat disturbing and awkward images. She shows provocation and crudeness by intertwining references from her ideas, emotions and life experience. She adds images of industrial pipes in each piece as a symbol of connection. They emphasize her idea that everything and everybody in this universe is inevitably connected. She sees no need in holding on to one particular manner of painting, and does not believe in terms such as “realistic” or “abstract” to describe her work. The primitive drawn icons in her work reveal the influence of working together with small children in the arts. To the observer, it may seem odd that some areas are completely untouched, whereas others are obviously “overdone”. She abruptly stops when she feels the painting is complete and not necessarily when it looks finished. The psychological impact of experiencing her work shows the strength of her rebellious nature. The unusual idea of the Pipe Painting series is amusing and contains a good amount of satire.