Pam Evelyn is known for painting large-scale abstract works that borrow from memory and nature, creating careful arrangements that result from intuition.
Read MoreBorn in Guildford, England, Evelyn attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London, completing her BFA in 2019. Evelyn then went on to pursue an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London.
Pam Evelyn's abstract paintings are textured with entanglements of line and colour and are informed by figuration and landscape structures, recreated through a process guided by impulse and chance.
Resulting works like Evening Rain (2020) do not follow any plan, opting out of the security of the formulaic, as if to replicate the uncertainties of life in the downpour of orange and blue strokes layered above imperfect shapes.
In 2021, Evelyn held her first solo exhibition at Peres Projects, Berlin, titled Spectacle of a Wreck. Paintings on show were inspired by her time in Scotland and her memories of a shipwreck in Ettrick Bay.
In the sombre landscape, the artist located an invitation to examine. 'I'm very attentive to the patterns of structure and colour that materialise in each work,' the artist says, describing a process she refers to as 'a mist rising'.
Aggregating both strokes and sentiment, paintings like Shard (2021) show soft purples, yellows, and reds above pastel pink, with sharp translucent shapes carefully arranged through dusted shades of orange.
Likewise, Keeping a weather eye open (2021), in which two coiling plant shapes emerge from orange soil against a green and red backdrop surrounded by a dark brown frame, equally hints at nature as well as apocalypse.
Prior to Spectacle of a Wreck, Evelyn left her London studio to paint outdoors on the south coast of England. Resulting works recall the artist's early influences, which include Italian painter Giorgio Morandi's quiet landscapes.
Amongst them are diptychs like Civil Dawn (2021), comprised of an aggregation of green strokes on beige that appear to be rendered against a backdrop of trees and houses, as if to recreate a panoramic view of the countryside landscape.
Similarly, Spine Fence (2021), a large triptych composed of three rectangular canvases stacked to form one vertical canvas, depicts coiled forms against a vivid backdrop, showing organic shapes carrying from one section into the next.
Pam Evelyn is the recipient of the 2019 Cass Art Prize.
Pam Evelyn has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions.
Select solo exhibitions include Peres Projects, Berlin (2021).
Select group exhibitions include The Approach, London (2021); Baert Gallery, Los Angeles (2021); Hockney Gallery, London (2020); Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam (2019); Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki (2019); IZO Art Gallery, Moscow (2019, 2018); and The Crypt Gallery, London (2017).
The artist's Instagram can be found here.
Elaine YJ Zheng | Ocula | 2022
