It was a few years ago when I first heard of Evan Hecox. I can't remember exactly how I came to find his work but it instantly grabbed my attention. The simplified, design-like style hit the same chord that illustration does with me. The paintings are almost cinematic in their composition. And it's this mix of recording the factual, physical decay of a city street while simultaneously reducing it to it's essential visible components, and turning it into a beautiful image, that I love so much.
He begins with careful observations of a setting and then progresses into concentrated, detailed drawings worked over a prepared, aesthetically textured ground. As a result the drawing floats on top of the surface, which remains visible through the drawing, creating a space between them that is at once tied to, and distanced from the image.
His more recent work has started to move towards abstraction with design coming to the fore. Presenting work with bold abstracted lettering combined with the urban landscapes of his previous work, often drawn over newspaper.
Evan Hecox lives and works in Colarado, USA.
