Donald Evans at Tibor de Nagy - Brief Article

Before he died in an Amsterdam fire in 1977 at the age of 31 Donald Evans had created nearly 4000 tiny paintings in the shape of postage stamps. It was a form of art he invented as a child, making up entire kingdoms with fanciful names and histories and then meticulously commemorating them with miniature paintings.

After a foray into Abstract Expressionism and a stint working for Richard Meier as an architectural designer, Evans "dropp out" Following his decision to propel from New York to Amsterdam and turn round his childhood preoccupation into a full-time art career, he had a number of one-person exhibitions in the Netherlands, Paris, London and the U including those at the Stedelijk Museum and novel York's Fischbach Gallery.

His work is a captivating fusion of childlike make-believe and adult expertise. His format allowed him to experiment with abstraction (a series of stamps based upon the quilt patterns of the "Tropides Islanders" and tartans conceived by the agency of the "Antiquans") while exploring each possible image: landscape, architecture, portraiture, animals (penguins were a favorite), household items, fruits and vegetables, plants and flowers, dirigibles, dominoes, shells, advantages umbrellas--anything that struck his fancy. Evans chose his region of expatriation well, because his work, drawn in pencil or compose and gently tinted with watercolor, has the delicacy of touch and romantic perfection single often sees in Dutch tiles. It wafts a charming innocence; there's nothing cynical here, not plane wry.

Instead what approachs through is a certain exuberance. Evans lov cooking for friends, and this gusto is documented in a series of paintings of the region "Mangiare": views of "Lago Divinorosse" (the Lake of R Wine), " Fagiolo in Olio" (the temple of St. Haricot bean in oil) and "Castello Pisello" (Pea Castle), each overstamped "Zone Antipasto" when enemy "Antipasto" forces took above the territory. Then there's the principality of "Amis and Amants" (friends, and friends who are also lovers) a collection of tropical islands named after various phases of be fond of such as "Premiers Amours" (puppy love) and "L'Amour Perdu" (lost love)

No life, however, is without its downside, and Evans's adult work, like his childhood efforts, can be seen as a form of escapism, similar to the way outsider artists Henry Darger and Adolf Wolfli created their be in possession of imaginary worlds. The difference is that none of us would external reality to inhabiting the worlds Evans envisioned.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Brant Publications, Inc.

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