Ambitious, talented, smart and vibrant are some of the words to describe the artist EBOVA, Erika Pochybova. I caught up with her during an exhibit in early 2021 at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock to talk about her art, life and fascinating history. Erika is originally from former Czechoslovakia where, as a young girl, she
would visit the castles and gaze at the centuries old paintings and tapestries gracing the walls.
As a young girl, her grandfather loved to draw with they created stories together. These special moments influenced a life of art.
Erika was a talented classical guitarist – art has always been a central part of her life, even as her career took its turns into marketing,
business and technology, she ultimately found herself constantly longing to create. She even worked on independent movies. If you have ever meet Erika, you will be as impressed as I was with this woman of many talents.
She came to the United States to learn English. With a job offer in Switzerland, the language was a necessity. Her sister lived in Lubbock and the “Hub City” was a natural landing spot to begin to study the language. Luckily for Lubbock, she fell in love with the open lands, large sky, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and the fact that she would wake up to sunshine every day during her initial visit, she decided to stay.
She began to paint in 2008 and became more involved with the Lubbock arts community. As her unique style gained attention, her reputation and business began to grow. She is a self-taught artist and shares that she feels compelled to paint. Erika has a spirit of fearlessness throughout her artwork. Her pieces resemble tapestries she gazed at as a child, with
tiny dots accenting the design. Other paintings have extraordinary bold colors and create a sense of movement and energy. During the COVID-19 quarantine she dedicated thousands of hours to creating a body of new complex works which include paintings, archival prints, and charcoal studies.
Her pieces are diverse and each one extraordinary in conveying her personality and energy. She is inspired by the complexities of nature, life and human emotion. It is an interplay of uniquely combined colors that explore depths, intricacies and intimacies of her personal “handwriting” which transcends the viewer into EBOVA’s world.
For more information on EBOVA and her artwork, you can check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ebovaart and Instagram: ebova_art
