Richard Evans: Celebrations/Point - Counterpoint

June 12 - September 5, 2004

For me, the painting of these personages is an experience as direct and as informing as if I had shared with them days and months in my studio. And afterward, and even in-between, as the participants gather, I venture into the panels to walk among them, to listen and to observe. All along I am of course aware of the Quixotic nature of my participation.

Professor Emeritus Richard Evans taught at the University of Wyoming Art Department from 1953 to 1991. Since that time, he has worked tirelessly in his Laramie studio, creating a new series of paintings entitled Celebrations / Point - Counterpoint.

Large in scale, this series of ten paintings are complex constructs of historical figures, actors, writers, musicians, cartoon characters - the famous and the infamous. Drawn in free-hand, Evans casts his characters onto the canvas without preconceived idea of composition or context. Each figure is placed and painted to completion with scale and relationship becoming an ongoing conversation between Evans and his canvas. All of these works have been created since his retirement in 1992. Now 80, Evans continues to paint every day in his Laramie studio.

Funded in part by the National Advisory Board of the UW Art Museum.

Images:

Top: Richard Evans, Celebrations / Point-Counterpoint: #3, 0il on panel, 6 x 8 feet, 1996-1997, courtesy of the artist

Center: Richard Evans, Celebrations / Point-Counterpoint: #8, oil on panel, 6 x 8 feet, 2000-2001, courtesy of the artist

Bottom: Richard Evans, Celebrations / Point-Counterpoint: #4, oil on panel, 6 x 8 feet, 1997-1998, courtesy of the artist