Geraint Evans
Geraint Evans is interested in the ways in which we perceive, encounter and experience the natural world and read it as landscape. His figurative paintings and drawings explore the notion that landscape is largely a social and cultural construct, responding to the writer W J T Mitchell’s observation that ‘landscape is a natural scene mediated by culture.’
We encounter the natural world in gardens and parks, in shopping malls and suburban green belts, in national parks and theme parks, as gardeners, ramblers and tourists. We see nature framed by a train window or a camera view finder. We seek out scenic views and ‘wild’ places for contemplation, adventure, solitude or as a healthy tonic. Evans is interested in both the hybridized space in which the built and natural environments meet and in our complex perception of the wilderness.
Tourism transforms sites of wild nature into ‘outdoor recreation resources’ (Wilson 1992) and promises an authentic encounter with the natural world through a packaged tour or within the controlled boundaries of a national park. For example, the hotdog-stand in ‘Frankfurter’ (2022) is located in a clearing of a seemingly wild landscape, an incongruous interloper upon which a large cut-out of an anthropomorphized sausage lies, winking at us invitingly. A hike into this wilderness, therefore, will be facilitated by a fix of processed food, whilst two stools invite the visitor to rest and admire the view, transforming this landscape into a marketable commodity.
Often, the Yetis and ornamental hermits that populate Evans’ work embody a sense of nature as a wild place, whilst model makers seek to create idealised representations, viewing the natural world through an anthropocentric lens, whilst remaining once removed from its wild entanglement.
Biography
Geraint Evans’ solo exhibitions include Arcadecardiff, Wales 2015; Newport Museum and Art Gallery 2012; Wilkinson Gallery, London 2000 and 2004; Chapter, Cardiff 2001; Glynn Vivian, Swansea 2002 and CASA, Salamanca, Spain 2003.
Group exhibitions include Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland 2022 & 2008; The National Museum, Gdansk 2019; Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London 2017; Monash University, Melbourne 2013; Ceri Hand, Liverpool 2011; Shanghai Art Gallery, China 2010; Seongnam Art Centre, Korea 2010; ICA, University of Pennsylvania 2007; The City Gallery, Prague 2004 and The Approach, London 2003 & 1999.
In 2023 he co-curated Arcadia for All? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now with Judith Tucker for the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds and the Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester.
Collections include the Derek Williams Trust, National Museum of Wales; Fondazione Morra Greco, Napoli; The British Embassy, Berlin; The West Collection, Pennsylvania; the Colas Foundation, France.
