Simon Evans

Simon Evans produces drawings and collages of various scales and content.

The World, 2003, is a large-scale drawing/collage of the continents of the world brought together to fit the map of the USA. Seen from afar, the work looks like a re-scaling of the American land. When looking closer at the partitions and the divisions of the cityscapes, one can see a multitude of resemblances and associations. With a humorous attitude, the continents are brought together in one body. The bottled water running through the world, the islands embraced by the continents, hints to the artist’s approach to the current status quo. The parts with titles like historical toilet, new born fear, early suburbs that are now city, technology, etc, display a one-to-one correspondence to the geographies where they take place. Not only the interiors but also the ports and harbours of the world, that are the connections to the outside, are all carrying comments. The artist brings together his influences and storming ideas, in one frame, in one scale. Thus, the silent reference to the politics of the USA and the generalisation of masses within their outstanding features appears to be a critique of today.

Evan’s work entitled Switzerland, 2003, is a small scale drawing of a tape that has already been played until the end – the magnetic tape is on the right side of the B-side. The production of an image of a tape in the year 2003 can be defined as an act of associating the country of Switzerland to an out-dated position or conversely to a peculiar nostalgia. Why do we see the combination of an image of a tape with Switzerland? What does it mean that the tape is at the end of the track? Are there references to the big brother awards taking place in Switzerland in the year 2003 or the second international workshop on experimental and efficient algorithms or the admission of the best mineral water in the world…?

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