BIO & Statement

Eduardo Ralita (Barcelona, ​​1967) holds a Master's degree in Architecture from Oxford Brookes University, UK. He also holds a Master's degree in Architecture and Critical Theory from the University of Nottingham. His painting is a constant exploration of the materialist/expressionist tradition of abstract informalism.

Currently, she resides and researches materials and painting in Saudi Arabia, where she resides. From the East, she creates and researches her most recent work. She paints primarily on burlap and paper, in a sensual and explosive manner, giving her works a strong, powerful presence and a lasting impact.

He tears at the paint, splashes at the openings, binds the edges, and pushes beyond the surface and the boundaries, as if the artist's energy were boundless. Eduardo Ralita's work is a furious process, both physical and intellectual, a rebellion against uniformity and standardization, and a reaction to the superficial and standardized production of 21st-century industry.

Eduardo Ralita explored a variety of Abstract Expressionist techniques, from Pollock’s dipping on cut wood planks (first exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta in 1992) to Rothko’s gently layered, diluted oil paintings (exhibited in Barcelona in 2012), creating vibrant color combinations based on the De Stael school. In Japanese Calligraphies (2012), he uses purposeful brushstrokes and gestures. In Chinese Landscapes (2016), he conveys a universal longing for nature as a sanctuary from chaos. In Skies of Palma (2016), he develops a series of tectonic abstractions that convey the sense of pressure and release when walking through medieval town centers, focusing on the edge between the built urban form and the sky beyond.

Eduardo Ralita's work is raw and possesses its own recognizable conceptual envelope, characteristic of an intellectually trained and sharp process.

For her MA in Architecture at Oxford, she researched the historical development of the relationship between museums and cities, and her thesis won the Reginald Cave Prize for Best Major Study (1996). She narrated an almost eternal love affair between the exhibition of art and the Urban settlements, which first became known for displaying tall sculptures, closer to the gods, and gradually became part of the urban fabric of European city centers, from private to public spaces, then became instigators of new urban developments, and then became entertainment venues and tourist destinations.

Her MA in Architecture and Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham (1997-1998), an innovative and advanced multidisciplinary theoretical examination of contemporary debates in cultural and social studies, literary theory and contemporary Western philosophies, reinforced both the informed belief that the arts and humanities have a pivotal role to play in an over-technological and mechanised society by actively promoting critical thought and action, and the manner in which art practice must positively contribute to this in a phenomenological and hermeneutic way, as a discipline that inevitably has a direct effect on the human body and senses, and therefore, by default, on society as a whole.

Eduardo Ralita’s thesis “On the Extruded Section” is a critique of the dehumanizing impact of mass technological production on contemporary architecture (eliminating warmth, emotion and individuality), which was awarded an MA with distinction by external examiner Terry Eagleton.

The Painting. Eduardo Ralita paints on burlap to convey a more passionate and textured impression to the viewer. The smooth, simple surface of the canvas seems unable to contain enough emotion, hence the three-dimensional approach to the painting. In addition to the physical and sensual, Ralita works with spiritual themes of rebirth and salvation through art, inspired by the works of Kiefer and personal experiences of loss and recovery.

The burlap flowers emerge from a barren landscape as a symbol of life and enduring love, following the devastation of human experience: death, depression, suicide, and heartbreak. Ultramarine blues used a precious pigment for 16th-century Venetian painters, reserved due to its scarcity only for the most sacred figures, and which today magically conveys the infinite in the sky and sea, the supernatural, and melancholy.

Islands are inspiring places of solitude and reflection, about the fragility of existence and the inevitability of the passage of time. Chinese landscapes convey a misty world of ascending paths and distant cliffs, where a solitary cottage or hermit's cave can be a refuge for body and mind, a universal longing to be at one with nature.

In addition to universal themes, the numerous locations in Europe and Asia where Eduardo Ralita has lived and worked add layers of color and materials to his abstract compositions. His new Cambodian works in progress (2022-2024) utilize earth tones, directly from Ratanak Dark Brown, Mondulkiri Red Brown, and Kampot Red, and green sandstone from Siem Reap to develop a discourse on resilience in the face of the constant difficulties faced by human beings in an existence that is short in the dimension of time, but long from the perspective of the individual's own minuscule perception of themselves and their sometimes hostile environment, which provides them with life while simultaneously attempting to recurrently eliminate it in an infinite rebirth of the essence of the self.

Exhibitions (excerpt): National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta 1992 Francoli Gallery, Barcelona 2012 Comas Gallery, Barcelona, ​​2016 A34 Gallery, Barcelona, ​​2017 Zielinsky Gallery, Barcelona 2017 Bailén Gallery, Barcelona, ​​2018 DDR Art Gallery, October 2024.

Interview with Chiara Aluigi https://www.madeinbed.co.uk/interviews/chiara-aluigi-en-conversacion-con-eduardo-ralita

Eduardo Ralita's works on burlap and paper can be seen at:

DDR ART GALLERY , Calle de la Encomienda 21, 28012, Madrid. 

info@ddrartgallery.com

Tel. +34 659819791