IEVA AQUA'RELLE

Professionally trained in fine arts and theatre, her artistic career is richly varied, crossing over into multiple artistic disciplines including performance and dance.
She recently collaborated with Latvian pianist and composer Ieva Dubova to create the artwork for her experimental post-classical album, ‘Reverie’ (2020).
Ieva Aqua’relle’s watercolours depict abstract, evocative female figures termed ‘Madonnas’ by the artist.
Fascinated by images of the mighty Mother-Goddess figure throughout art and history, she first began painting female figures after the birth of her own daughter.
The artist explains: “The ‘Madonnas' were born from my own personal limitations of being a woman, mother and artist at the same time. There’s no religious meaning, at least in a literal sense of the word. Careful observers can find many references to ancient myths, fairy tales, biblical stories and medieval imagery in my work.”
Creatively inspired by classical antiquity, as well as ancient, medieval, Byzantine and Islamic art, Ieva Aqua’relle seeks to bring a deeper emotional meaning to observers through her paintings.
She explains: “I am moved when people recognise themselves in my work and connect it to their inner world. In my paintings, I try and depict ‘a mental landscape’ rather than a physical resemblance. Places, people and landscapes are sources for new ideas, information and images, which I continually transform in my art. The real subjects of my art are my contemporaries - the women, children, and men around me.”
Originally from Latvia, Ieva Aqua’relle studied fine arts — specifically, classical drawing, watercolour and oil painting — at Janis Rozental Arts College in Riga. She later studied theatre at Aix-Marseille University in France, and holds an MA in Performance Design and Practice from Central Saint Martins in London.
Prior to the emergence of her watercolour-focused art career, Ieva Aqua’relle worked as a director, writer, performer and stage and costume designer at arts productions across Europe — specifically in France, Germany, Italy and the UK, where she now resides.