Eva Armisen’s paintings about happiness, family offer comfort

Spanish painter Eva Armisen, known as an “artist drawing happiness” in Korea, is showcasing her work in Seoul to offer comfort amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The exhibition “Eva Armisen Vida” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun in central Seoul displays around 150 oil paintings, drawings, installations and media art by Armisen. The exhibition celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Spain has arrived at the right time here for those who thirst for a little comfort and happiness during the pandemic.

The Barcelona-based artist is popular in Korea for her warm paintings that show love for family and oneself.

Armisen’s message on display at the exhibition -- “There are groups that give me the feeling of becoming a complete person when I am with them. They are families, friends or colleagues, and there is no way to describe the sense of feeling” -- gives visitors a chance to think of their loved ones.

The exhibition features 100 new works, including those that were inspired by nature, such as “Volar (to fly),” “En Flor (Blooming),” “Cambiar y Volar (Change and to Fly)” and “Vida (Life). Armisen shows her interest in expressing our lives by comparing it to the cycle of nature. Next to her painting “Cambiar y volar (Change and to fly),” she notes there is a time for everyone to change in life, like an insect going through a metamorphosis, to break away from the place where they once belonged.

A nearly four-month Armisen exhibition at the Seoul Art Center at the end of 2018 drew some 400,000 visitors. In 2016, she drew the illustrations for “Mom is a Haenyeo,” a Korean book about three generations of women divers on Jeju Island. The book was later published in Spanish.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)