Simon Evans started out as a writer and now he is a visual artist. Using a detailed and obsessive sorting and charting method, the curator says he is attempting to make sense of the chaos of being human. The impulse we humans have to make sense of the strangeness of our existence by classification is so very futile, isn't it? And since the work itself is well done, the futility of the effort comes across in the work’s abundance and intricacy, and its sense of humor. He gives us diagrams, maps, a chart containing a constellation of cigarette burns, even lists including one about women he would sleep with “in time.” Simon shares his daily existence as if in a journal, offering up moments that are sometimes painful and sometimes silly, but consistently real.



Simon Evans, a native of London, professional skateboarder, and Jack Hanley artist, makes maps, pie charts and graphs to explain his world:
"Evans uses art to try to make sense of being in this world and, perhaps, of being ill at ease. His materials and format are quotidian as well: Scotch tape, liquid paper, handwriting, mistakes that need fixing, and frayed and dirty edges. In Evans's hands, a map of the world becomes an island vaguely resembling San Francisco, with neighborhoods such as Purgatoire, Bohemian Poor, and Lip Service. Some of the phrases have a certain legibility, but others are clearly private notations not meant for general consumption. "



Simon Evans looks at the idiosyncrasies of everyday life through intricate charts and diagrams whose intimacy evokes the voyeurism of encountering a found diary.





Diagram of an Interaction with a Different Body/Yellow Concerns, 2004



Artist Keegan McHargue (left) with Simon Evans in front of Evans' Untitled, 2004

If Castrillo Diaz whispers, British-born Simon Evans absolutely ventilates. When I was visiting, the museum was packed. Three 12-year-olds were bouncing around Evans' drawings, excitedly reading the texts aloud. They coalesced at one and got quiet. "This guy's a genius," ventured one, soliciting his friends' approval. I glanced to see what had so caught them. Ah yes, a work titled, Women I'd Fuck in Time (2004).
The drawing features one of Evans' stock-in-trade themes: the group portrait. Others include maps, charts, lists and diagrams of all sorts. Rarely does an element of an Evans drawing go unlabeled. Every shape, line and collage element bears a line of explanation.
Text, information art, is such thin ice that it's invigorating to see someone brave it. These are compositionally unique -- a surface of layered scotch tape (again) worked with pen, Wite-Out and pieces of this and that. Visually they have a certain unschooled grace; it plays well against the text.