Evelyn Morgan

As a lover of literature, Evelyn mentions one of her favourite authors Jane Austen whose inferred descriptions and observation of women’s choices in her novels is very evident, and how much Evelyn enjoys storytelling herself and the essentials of narrative in her artwork. The most compelling with Evelyn’s paintings is how she achieves this with finesse in the combination of simplicity and powerful or curious statements. Her paintings are a unique creation of collage, illustration and painting with abstract compositions, conveying a thought provoking outlook at human life, and human behaviours. Whether it is a group of women that could be from many generations, or the final stages of a dinner party, or the chaos of daily life. Her paintings incorporate humour, chaos and metaphors. There are historical, modern, theatrical and playful references to our behaviours, they are deep references played out with bright colours within an optimistic playfulness, but also contains the deep and dark, all played out within the realms of a simple line.  As a lover of colour and a fashion enthusiast, they are reflections of “Things you see in your daily life, but might not think about” Evelyn explains. It’s these bold colours and her enthusiasm for colour that resonates so strikingly within the simplest of shapes, and yet conveys so much. It looks so easy and yet resonates so many feelings.

Born and raised in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, Evelyn always knew she was good at art, however, she wanted to be commercial, and she wanted to be a product and graphic designer. Following in her father’s footsteps as a product designer, but she didn’t really enjoy product, so she debated fashion or graphic design, and since she didn’t like the idea of making things, she chose to study graphic design and when she decided she didn’t want to do that anymore, she chose to go into business, after completing an MBA at university. She went into business for six years working as a business and account manager looking after accounts such as Tescos. This she admits is now helpful for marketing and promoting her own work, she tells me. Her partner’s mother is an artist, and when she watched her paint, it inspired the desire in Evelyn to start painting again. Evelyn started painting as a hobby, she felt the creativity within her was dead, “Because business ruins it,” she tells me. It was a visit to China for work and the powerful impact this culture and its surroundings had on her, that Evelyn felt she needed to do more with her life, the decision to turn her life around, made her quit her job, and she emigrated and spent a year in China, teaching English. She felt she had been living in a bubble, China was so different, and it was also the first step to becoming an independent artist. 

Practising art, painting portraits she always wanted to incorporate patterns and shapes. Initially, she started painting portraits of celebrities, and marketed her work online. She started to feel constrained with portraits, and her Mother-in-law encouraged her to meet every month, and they painted together, giving her tutorials, and feeling the freedom to do what she wanted and to express herself. “To do what you want is scary!” Evelyn exclaims. Although she describes it as freeing, and how to push forward as she didn’t really trust herself in the beginning. She didn’t think she was good enough, even when she was working as a graphic designer, it’s really competitive she tells me. You can teach someone to paint or draw, but you can’t teach creativity. She started experimenting, with perspectives and abstraction, however getting an iPad for Christmas, started a new journey as an artist for Evelyn. She downloaded the Procreate art app, you can draw and it is all digital.  She describes her work and how she experimented with collage and Photoshop, it enabled her to experiment, and that is how the ideas come about, mixing shapes and lines with portraiture, she is more of a storyteller as she references her chess board series, she will research and will bring a story together.  She tells me about her idea of the massive dinner party artwork, and how she wanted to represent the work, as she wanted to interpret a meal or a last meal, she describes the different stages of a night. How you may get more drunk as the evening progresses. It’s about more about the narrative and observations, and it can be quite personal. 

Evelyn describes the art of painting how sometimes you can’t stop yourself, and why she likes the iPad, she can go away, and come back, however, it is intuitive and the work is a reflection of herself. I asked her what factors allow her to love an artwork, and she described the impact you get in your gut, and how a friend chose to like something different in contrast to what she enjoyed when they visited an art gallery. When I ask Evelyn who her biggest influences are, she talks about Keith Haring, and his playfulness and innocence and the lines. “It’s fun and it is colourful”. She also references artist Agnes Martin in this context, “No line is the same” and “It’s the space between the lines that matter” she has been described as world’s biggest editor, she edits everything down to its simplest form, “It’s simple but there is a lot there” Evelyn explains. She describes artists as the growers, and as you read more and learn more about them it compels you. Then you hear comments like “Aah but my child could do that the point is” Evelyn emphasises “But you haven’t and nor did your child”. This is probably where the confusion and misunderstanding of what art is to some of us.

When I asked her what the challenges are she faces in her creative process, putting together what she has done on the iPad onto canvas, also what it will look like large scale, her favourite part is coming up with the idea and then painting it. Each artwork can take up to two days to a couple of weeks to create. Then you have to learn to promote yourself and the business of it, navigate your work, understand prices and understand profit. When it is all yourself, it is so different, art is so personal. Then we start talking about what Evelyn considers the best and the worst in the art world, “The snobbery and pretentiousness is the worst,” she thinks on this for a minute, there is this little bubble, you can’t get in, you have to know someone, to know someone,” she explains. Then in contrast she tells me the best, is the differences and varieties of work.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst