This was one of my first interviews for the arts pages of the Ibiza HEUTE. I was fortunate that Eva-Maria was an accomplished interviewee, and was very patient with some of my misunderstandings!
Eva-Maria Reiner=Wilke
The island of Ibiza seems to have a strong attraction for artistic personalities, and one of the latest to succumb to the lure of the island is Eva Maria Reiner-Wilke. She was born in Germany, but has travelled widely on five continents and her past works have been inspired by important international events, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Gulf crisis. As well as being an accomplished painter she also writes poems, many dealing with the themes of environmental degradation and human failings on a large scale.
She has been a regular visitor to Ibiza since 1972, but has now come to live for at least part of every year in the village of Santa Eulalia, in an apartment near the marina, where the daily influence of fiery and spectacular sunsets can be clearly seen in her more recent work, a series of paintings which have been inspired by a book written by Ibicenco author Mariano Planells.
Themes such as “Punic Dance” and “Es Vedrá” are clearly related to Ibiza, although she has never actually seen most of the geographical entities that figure in her work. She has deliberately avoided seeing the reality that lies behind the writings, preferring instead to let her imagination depict what she sees as the essence of the island.
Although this may seem an unconventional approach, Eva Maria is decidedly unconventional, and, perhaps because her work is free of preconceived ideas about her subject matter, the paintings are extremely fluid, delicately suggesting movement in the colours of the sunset that stream through the windows of her home. Along with many other artists, she feels that the island offers a special kind of light and a special kind of energy — and this is readily visible in the contrast between her Ibiza paintings and those she creates in Germany.
At present, she is planning a series of works that will incorporate the red earth of Ibiza: the Carthaginians believed that the soil of Ibiza was holy, and she wishes to experiment with using this vividly coloured medium in future paintings which will have a strong spiritual content.
An earlier work of hers, painted with the help of children of Cologne, depicts the degraded environment of the city on a ten-metre canvas. This was later cut into pieces, and the pieces auctioned for charitable causes.
Another series of paintings were inspired by car rallying; to gain inspiration for these she took part in several racing events at such prestigious venues as Brand’s Hatch and Oulton Park in England, as well as a variety of venues in Germany.
Eva Maria’s paintings are abstract in form, but with the inclusion of curiously realistic elements that portray the essence of the material being depicted. She says that mythology and ancient history have always fascinated her, and mythological elements are often to be seen in her work.
Ibiza art lovers will have their first chance to see the paintings of Eva Maria Reiner-Wilke in the Hotel Hacienda, Na Xamena in San Miguel on Friday, 21st April at 7pm. The inauguration will be an especially interesting event, as she plans to incorporate poetry readings and music to complement her works.
