Eva Montealegre

Artist Statement

I am a painter with a theatre and storytelling background. When I paint, it is my intention to create a dance of color and form that manifests in a dreamlike way and includes everything from whimsy to drama. An energetic flow and sometimes even an explosion are conveyed.

I've been shaped by an intense artistic environment and I am affected and seduced by the character and ambience of location, the structure of buildings, a dimly lit room, or a performance set. In my paintings, I examine the personas, the body, the heavens, dark and mysterious corners, the stopping places and launching pads of the soul.

I am influenced by Monet and his watery images. I adore the beauty and the emotional components of his work. I have studied his brush strokes extensively, as well as the brush strokes of Modigliani, which I have found to be mesmerizing.

I dig deep to discover themes that are universal, that others relate to, as we are all born of water. We are all in a waking dream of a mystifying reality living in an expanse of space. In my physical exploration of texture and color, I want to excite the sensibilities, to engulf, saturate. I am often thoughtful of unity and through-line to convey freedom and visceral truth that is unencumbered by any one message or agenda. This allows me to construct each work with a joyful, exploratory energy.

I use symbolic narrative to express an experience, a historical moment, a personality or animal. I may meditate on a subject for as much as a year before creating a series. I’m impressed by masters like Monet and Modigliani, but I’m even more penetrated by the style of the original artists, the cave painters. Recent archeologists opine that they were women.

I’m presently exploring the healing process by addressing mental health in my Deep Series. I have had myriad artistic experiences, all of which have been gratifying but none as deeply moving as working with critically ill youth, teaching them transformational mask-making and allowing them to bring their creations to life.