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Ramblings of an Artist

"I come from an artistic family. Both my mother and brother are artists and successful in their own right so I have been surrounded by it my whole life. I can't ever remember learning how to draw it's just something thsts always been there. I don't ever remember not drawing, my mother must have encouraged it from a very early age.

I am a mother, a painter, a teacher, a student - but not a wife. I take inspiration for my work from all of these things. Other inspirations include death, clowns, sex, punk, Lord Byron, colour, spider webs etc. etc. I could go on listing my inspirations for hours. Paint itself is an inspiration. I think artists take inspiration from everything around them really. Sometimes it's the smallest most trivial thing & other times it can be a momentous flaw in society that drives me to paint that helps me know what to paint.

One of my many obsessions is the human body. With all it's structured bones and mounds of flesh the body has always been the main focus of my work. It is something that has never left my paintings. My canvas always seems like a lonely and desolate space until a figure steps into it. I am fasinated with all body shapes, sizes and genders But it is the female form that carries most of my affection. I do not know why I have this obsession this compulsion to study the female form. It is in many respects an addiction.

My early work was inspired by the politics that surround the female figure. I am interested in the way the media and society perceive womens bodies and what is Perceived as beautiful.

Where it all began

I played around with photography and lighting basically doing the opposite of what one would do to make themselves look beautiful. These photos were a huge inspiration to me. I wanted to make myself as "ugly" as possible but create something beautiful within that ugliness using colours and textures. To take a figure or a face that is by society perceived as ugly and to try and take away that perception. To see if we can find beauty in fleshy fat or streched and bruised skin.

At this point the paintings took on a life of there own with the poetry of painting succeeding the politics of the work. I like to work from life where possible but also do a lot of work from photos generally taken by myself or of myself. The figures in my work are generally anonomous. They are more objects of aesthetic pleasure with little or no character or narrative. In fact sometimes I even decapitate my figures. The significance of this is something I'll leave for you to decide upon. I like the idea of the viewer playing a part in my paintings. I hope they are ambiguous enough that you can create some of the narrative yourself.

As well as working from photos and life I also do a lot of work directly from imagination. The personalities of my women have definatly been created by me rather then inspired by actual people. They are not portraits.

Julia Evans