The works Eduardo’s Friends oscillate between painting and drawing. Here, the artist makes use of very old cultural techniques, such as were used for the engravings found in prehistoric caves or those that finally lead to the golden age of Greek ceramics with vase painting. Until the end of the 7th century BC, the technique of painting or “drawing” by incising silhouetted figures, which we now call the black figure style, flourished in Attic workshops. Greek pottery evolved over centuries and vase painting saw various styles and decoration. Not only were figures depicted, but also geometrical patterns and mythological tales.
In the procedure, the artist uses a substrate made of oil crayons on which she applies black oil paint that is then removed by scraping and incising after having dried. This way, the resulting black shapes emerge
almost vividly from the background and counteract the bright background. Given the title Eduardo’s Friends, the 7-part series refers to Eduardo Chillida’s work, whose vocabulary of shapes has fascinated the artist for years. At the same time, this working method is a reminiscence of her childhood, in which she also “painted” in this way.
