Franklin Evans: juddrules
September 17 – December 13, 2014
While Franklin Evans considers himself first and foremost a painter his works are process-based physical environments, surrounded by the very source materials that conceptually inform his paintings. “It’s like walking into a painting,” describes Evans, anticipating how Montserrat Gallery will evolve into a ‘landscape’ of ephemeral and factual materials over the course of his three week residency.
At first glance the space resembles a studio more than a gallery: long strands of painters tape, unstretched canvas mounted to the walls, books, low resolution printed out photos and stacks of paper implies that the audience is literally “stepping into” a work in progress. Evans utilizes the gallery as a site of production, rather than an endpoint in which show a “finished” product. By revealing cultural references influential to his work such as theoretical texts, art historical documents, exhibition press releases, digital images, etc., Evans creates a web of interconnected ideas.
Leonie Bradbury, Director and Chief Curator of Montserrat Galleries describes the artist’s work as a network. “The artwork exists in a state of flux, continuously transitioning, wavering between assembled and dismantled, reconnecting and disconnecting, configuring and reconfiguring to form moments of coalelesence.” The inclusion of both found objects (tape, photos, books) and his fine art paintings work together to illustrate an expansive view into Evans’ history and biography as an artist. The flux between big picture thematics and personal items within the installation creates a constant loop of informing and influence.
Another way that Evans communicates sources of influence and inspiration is through the titles of his work. For example, paintingassupermodel, a recent solo-exhibition at Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery (New York) expanded upon three essays in Yves-Alain Bois’ book, Painting as Model. For his exhibition at Montserrat, Evans will work with the writings of Minimalist artist, Donald Judd, specifically those that were highlighted or underlined during Evans’ original reading of the text. Creating self-imposed guidelines or “rules” for which excepts to incorporate into the installation results in the title, juddrules
