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.
Intuitive Process
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.
Spectacle of a Wreck
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.
Observing Nature
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.
