As an artist who was a part of the Young British Artists along with Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, Richard Patterson creates paintings, sculptures, and prints that speak to the artist’s eclectic interest in contemporary culture. In many of his paintings, Patterson uses images collected from magazines and films to paint them over in his characteristically thick brush strokes, imbuing them with new meanings and narratives that are not contained within the original source material.
In Eve Posing with Guitar, however, there is very little indication of what the title purports to depict within the composition. Rather, the painting prompts the spectator to imagine the ways in which Eve posing with a guitar is represented within the picture plane. The velocity of the brush strokes used throughout the painting serves as one potential indication of the musical energy of the figure that inspired the painting. Moving from one end of the painting to another swiftly and powerfully, the painterly gestures within the canvas merge the various colors placed next to each other while conjuring up melodies and rhythms.
