Elf Evans

Thoughts of Art(s)

Elf Evans Abstract Painter





Looking at the fine examples of “Abstract Expressionist Art” painted and sculpted by
outstanding Artists in the '60s, while working at Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
certainly set the stage for me to become one like them. I found comfort in knowing
not every hair had to be in place, as the realists would have it. Not strict attention to rigid
dogma spewed out from the lecture halls of many Art Schools, Galleries, and recognized
Museums. But, being one's self and allowing the chips to fall where they may, was good
enough for Pollock, de Kooning, and all the others I became inspired by.

I studied for a while in southern California at Hollywood Art Centre School, and met some
fine artists, that mostly were pursuing a traditional path along their journeys. I was really
interested in splashing, dripping, throwing my paints on the canvases and then standing
back to see where the dust would settle. The freedom of having something in my mind
that could only be explained during the process of doing and usually not concerned with
an outcome that would please anybody else, was the object of my part to show how I was
feeling, thinking, seeing, doing, exploring, painting, giving, taking, dealing with internal
waves of emotion wanting release upon canvases.

Now some forty five years later, I seem to be returning to my roots of thinking more of
Piet Mondrian, and his works using reduced clutter, primary colours, and spacial relations
conveying strong and sensitive meanings.

My current Abstract Paintings are part of a series, “LIM = Less Is More”, some with only
one colour on the canvas i.e. white on white, black on white, primary on white, etc. The space
around the paint is just as important to me as the paint in most instances. How it comes
into existence is of key importance, supporting or being supported by the colours it is
sharing space with. I know this is over simplification, so just look at the work and form
your own opinions, similar to what I did while working at LACMA.

Have Fun.

elf