without even trying

LAND WITH TREES, SUN

oil and mixed media on canvas*

'Without Even Trying' is a series that contends with a world in which inside you are everything while outside you are only one thing. These interactions with natural pigments and oil paint on semi raw locally stretched canvas and wood board evoke questions of identity and perception. What can we cling to in a rapidly changing world? Is stability a thing of the past? Operating with a liminal color scheme and allowing relationships between gestural strokes and mixed media elements to emerge on their own and create meaning, EVB may ask more questions than be able to answer. The imaginary flat plain of a landscape challenges what we know while simultaneously serving as a pastoral window. At what point does a landscape become a portrait, a portrait an abstract painting, an abstract a landscape, and all possible distinctions between things disappear?   E.V.B

*high quality hand stretched canvas by Casey Criddle at Craft Studio Services

photos by John Dijulio and Shane McFadden at the Material Room in Richmond, VA 04.11.25