About Ewa

Ewa Perz was born in Gdansk, Poland. There she received a Masters degree in Biology but nurtured a hidden passion for being an artist. After living in Europe she moved to Mexico City, where the bold colors of the indigenous palette deeply inspired her to start painting. From there she traveled to Costa Rica to take classes with Felo Garcia and to Santa Fe to study with David Laffel. Global cultures, styles, and trends strongly influence her choices in themes. Leaving her career in the sciences behind, she relocated to Louisville, Kentucky. It was here that her practice matured and the local galleries and curators took notice of her unique and compelling imagery. Ewa has exhibited in Louisville with Revelry Gallery, Louisville Visual Art, and in Lexington with the Ann Tower Gallery and SouthHill Gallery. She has twice been featured in group shows at Art Basel in Miami and exhibited at San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. In 2011 she attended a residency in Antibes, France resulting in an exhibit of work at Galerie Municipale.

Ewa Perz describes her life in Poland as gray and dull, that fell into an institutionalized aesthetic that has become a cliche of Eastern Europe. There is always a kernel of truth in every cliche and for Ewa, that truth repressed her artistic nature.

In Mexico City, she found her first taste of creative freedom in the vibrant colors that dominate that environment, brilliant red, yellow, orange, green, and blue that date back to the pre-Columbian period and have traveled forward through the native dyes and textiles.

Upon relocating to Louisville, Kentucky, Ewa took classes with Louisville Visual Art and then became a part of the community of artists working under the tutelage of Susan Howe at Mudpies Studios.

The bold and singular use of color has been characteristic of Ewa’s work ever since, as she has developed dynamic monochromatic compositions using simple subjects, isolating animals and flowers from their environments to focus on the form and personality of those subjects. Yet she is not interested in the form itself but in how her color and application of paint shape that form. Like many great artists, the resulting image reveals itself through the process.

Her thematic choices indicate an underlying commitment to environmentalism and animal rights, but Ewa is not a typical activist, preferring to let her art speak for her. In 2017 her “Water Works” exhibit consisted of paintings of bodies of water that are intimate, and contemplative; studies of beauty frozen in time. That sense of stillness and quiet encourages an appreciation for the natural world that might inspire more commitment to its preservation.

“I’m not always sure of my vision when I start a painting, even though I love control.”

The monochromatic palette was a self-imposed discipline, symbolic of that control yet also of hunger for growth and exploration, but that discipline began to feel too comfortable, and more recently Ewa has been breaking that restriction to explore and achieve a deeper understanding of the interrelationship between colors. Freedom allows for more adventure.

Written with assistance from Keith Waits