NYAB Event - John Evans "JOHN EVANS: 1984"

John Evans "JOHN EVANS: 1984"

Pavel Zoubok Gallery

This event has ended.

PAVEL ZOUBOK GALLERY presents an exhibition of daily collages by veteran New York artist JOHN EVANS coinciding with the release of 1984: Collages by John Evans, published by Quantuck Lane Press.

For any New Yorker old enough to remember, the year 1984 stands out as a fertile moment in the downtown art scene. The East Village was flourishing in a bold and brash confluence of art, music and nightlife, and the world was watching. Throughout this iconic year, with all of its Orwellian overtones, JOHN EVANS, a veritable institution in his Alphabet City neighborhood, was there to capture it all in colorful collages that vibrate with the energy of the street. Each day, beginning in 1964 and ending at the turn of the millennium (a seemingly appropriate date to stop). Evans created a collage from found objects ranging from clippings, business cards, product stickers or labels, and ticket stubs to bits of ephemera or anonymous snapshots. Publisher James Mairs writes, Evans’s collages are mini time capsules that comment on the events of the city, the art world, and the country as a whole. They are whimsical and at the same time conscious of more serious subjects such as the economy, health, and government controls. They are also autobiographical with postcards, snapshots and other connections to Evans’s daily life.

Evans has enjoyed greater critical attention in recent years with numerous exhibitions and the publication of a major monograph in 2004. New York Times critic Benjamin Genocchio labeled him an “art world legend” in a 2008 review of his retrospective at the Morris Museum. Evans came out of retirement a few years ago, producing a series of large format collages that reflect a more reductive approach to color and composition. Several are included in the current exhibition. Absent are the artist’s signature Ursuline Ducks, that previously dotted the horizon like a Greek chorus. These recent works are not conceived daily, but “just when I feel like it,” Evans notes.

Media

• Drawing
• Prints
• Other

ADVERTISE ON NYAB