BIO - 2021

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Eduardo Ralita (Barcelona 1967) is a self-taught painter in the expressionist material tradition of arte povera and abstract informalism who lives and works across Europe and Asia.

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He paints mostly on burlap and on paper, in a sensual and explosive way, giving the works a strong and powerful presence and a lasting impact. He tears the painting, splashes the openings, he ties up the edges, and goes beyond surface and boundaries as if the energy of the artist working cannot be limited.

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It is sometimes a furious process, physical and intellectual, a rebelling against uniformity and standardization, and a reaction to the contemporary shinny and superficial art industry production, as distracting as it is banal.

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Formative years

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During his formative years, Eduardo Ralita explored various abstract expressionist techniques, from the drippings of Pollock over axed timber planks (first shown at the Valetta Museum of Fine Art in 1992) to the softly overlayed diluted oil layers of Rothko (exhibited in Barcelona in 2012), and the vibrant colour combinations of De Stael.

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ER Japanese Calligraphies (2012) use determined brushstrokes and gestures.

ER Chinese Landscapes (2016) convey a universal longing for nature as a sanctuary from chaos.

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ER Skies of Palma (2016) are series of tectonic abstractions conveying the feeling of pressure and release when walking through medieval urban centres, and focusing on the edge between urban built form and the sky beyond.

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History and Theory

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Eduardo Ralita ́s work is raw and does not seek a conceptual envelope, but there is a sharp and knowledgeable intellectually trained mind behind it all.

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For his MA in Architecture at Oxford, he researched the historical development of the relationship between museums and cities, and his thesis won the Reginald Cave Prize for Best Major Study (1996). He narrated an almost eternal love story between the exhibition of arts and urban settlements, first meeting when exhibiting sculptures at heights, closer to the gods, and gradually inserting themselves into urban fabrics across European city centres, from private to public venues, to later becoming the trophy like instigators of new urban developments, and later turning into entertainment venues and travel destinations.

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His further 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 an informed belief that the arts and humanities have a fundamental role to play in an over technological and mechanized society by actively promoting critical thought and action, and how art practice must contribute positively to this on a phenomenological and hermeneutical way, as a discipline which inevitably has a direct effect on the human body and senses, and therefore by default on society as a whole. Eduardo ́s thesis, On the Extruded Section, a critique of the dehumanizing impact of technological mass production on contemporary architecture (removing warmth, emotion, and individuality), was awarded an MA with Distinction by external examiner Terry Eagleton.

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