David Evans
(1929 - 1988)
The Theatre of the Mind
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Size:
Height – 69cm
Width – 52cm
The discovery by Liss Llewellyn of David Evans studio in 2016 resulted in a retrospective at The Young Gallery in Salisbury, in 2018, and the publication of a monograph on David Evans, reproducing for the first time over 100 works spanning his entire career. The introduction will be written by the musician Pete Gage, a friend of Evans best known as the vocalist from the pop group Dr Feelgood.
The discovery by Liss Llewellyn of David Evans studio in 2016 resulted in a retrospective at The Young Gallery in Salisbury, in 2018, and the publication of a monograph on David Evans, reproducing for the first time over 100 works spanning his entire career. The introduction will be written by the musician Pete Gage, a friend of Evans best known as the vocalist from the pop group Dr Feelgood.
Literature: “David Evans (1929-1988)”, edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, published by Liss Llewellyn Fine Art, 2017. ISBN 978-0-9930884-6-9. Cat 16, page 22.
Evans frequently produced studies in a series giving clear instructions (to The Redfern Gallery) to present them as a single group: By the way the one with four heads in should be mounted as one with windows cut in the mount, (we had a similar one at McMurrays and it did look splendid) (Friday, date). Record sleeves might have provided Evans with some of the inspiration for these. Music was a lifelong passion for Evans, both classical and pop, which he explored through the record shop he ran in London and attending concerts, especially to see Pete Gage perform. Titles including, Al Ziggy and Trev (1980), Buskers (1979); To the strains of piped Grieg; Choral Symphony (1981-2); Music Underground (1981-2); ‚ÄúDevil’s Trill‚Äù Sonata; Grosse Nachtmusik. Evans frequently alluded to the similarities between art and music and each of his works was given an Opus number.
Evans’ strikingly large watercolours (they typically measure over one metre in height or breadth), span two decades, (from the late 1960s to the late 1980s). While powerfully evoking the period charm of the glam-rock era, Evans showed a conscious awareness of the shifting political landscape around him. His compositions are characterised by a kaleidoscopic vision of Thatcher’s Britain: an era of urban redevelopment, the Falklands War, industrial unrest, nuclear power, and the Cold War. Transition is everywhere: new roads carve their way through the countryside; fighter jets cast their shadows across the landscape; the scars left by industrial plants, pylons and landfill permeate throughout.
The highly distinctive large scale watercolours of David Evans have much in common with those of Edward Burra, who, twenty four years his senior and much admired by Evans, was clearly an important influence. Painting the landscape of his native Suffolk, where he settled (near Woodbridge) in 1969, his brightly coloured compositions, which typically measure 30 x 50 inches, fused his local habitat with vivid fantasies inspired by imagery from contemporary life.
He was a ardent campaigner and environmentalist and the effects of pollution in the form of landfill, industrial plants and roads encroaching into his landscape are regular motifs. He was also drawn to metropolitan subjects – rock bands, cafeterias, excursions to museums and days out to the beach.
Born in London. he studied at Central School of Arts and Crafts with Keith Vaughan. Early in his career he showed photomontages at Gallery One and gained several commissions; these included a design for the Hollywood Room in the Observer Film Exhibition, 1956, and a mural for the Soup Kitchen, Knightsbridge. His characteristic large-scale watercolours and gouaches date from 1967 onwards. They were first shown in public in 1973, when his work was included in a mixed show at Deben Gallery, Woodbridge. In 1975 his work was included in summer show at Redfern Gallery, which resulted in a series of highly successful solo exhibitions at Redfern in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986 and a memorial show in 1988. He also had one-man shows at McMurray Gallery from 1976-8. In 1981 he was the subject of an Anglia ITV folio documentary. In his pre-1970 London years David ran his own specialist classical record shop in the Brompton Road, and in spite of his later success, he worked in his final years as a porter at a local psychiatric hospital. In the winter months he often found it hard to paint because the light conditions were too dull. He died at the age of 58 in a road accident. A memorial exhibition was held at Redfern in 1988.
The recent discovery of a unique group of pictures by Evans, which remained in his studio, unseen for several decades, has allowed the opportunity to curate the forthcoming exhibition at Three Highgate (4 April – 12 July 2025).
The exhibition will be accompanied by a 240 page book, reproducing for the first time over 100 works spanning his entire career. The introduction will be written by the musician Pete Gage, a friend of Evans best known as the vocalist from the pop group Dr Feelgood.
