Evan Hecox is an artist whose work captures the essence of urban environments through a unique process that involves first-hand observations of his surroundings and then progresses into drawings and paintings that are striking in their graphic simplicity. His work recognizes and evokes the constantly evolving nature of cities and of the lives that exist within them. By visually embracing all aspects of these environments he uses the decay and detritus of modern cities as key visual elements in his work, challenging traditional preconceptions of beauty. Like mental snapshots distorted by the haze of memory they both record a place and time as it actually was while simultaneously re-ordering reality by removing certain elements and emphasizing others. In this way his work has the effect of placing the viewer in a certain time and place while also layering it with his own experience.
His cross-disciplinary interest in photography, fine art and design infuses his work with an unusual but dynamic mix, ranging from near photo realism to simplified abstraction. He has exhibited his work widely in the United States as well as exhibitions in Paris, Sydney and Tokyo and others.
In his newest body of work Evan Hecox has concentrated, for the first time, on the city of London. The city makes for deep and appropriate subject matter for the artist, with it's intricate network of neighborhoods, streets, canals and old buildings that form the backdrop for it's bustling population. He has sought out areas that are less traveled by tourists and has focused instead on parts of former industrial and working-class London, going east to Shoreditch and Hoxton, to the side-streets of Camden Town, along Regent's Canal and south to Brixton and Battersea, as well as traversing the streets and underground of the city center.His multimedia works on paper offer an outsider's view of the seemingly mundane moments and places in life, yet it is often in these details that a city's true character is revealed. Rather than impossibly trying to document all things about such a vast urban landscape, his work seeks to observe the overall mood and atmosphere of London, capturing gray, overcast days with his silver and black monochromatic pieces and making use of more colorful and abstracted visions that express the life and vitality of thecity.
StolenSpace - Old Truman Brewery - 91 Brick Lane - London E1
opening November 3rd 2011
