Nancy Evans

Nancy Evans’s paintings and sculptures are shaped by a lifelong interest in the California landscape and the sublime aspects of natural forces. In a recent series of lunar paintings, inspired by the supermoons that occurred between 2014 and 2020, Evans captures the darkened sky but abstracts it. Acrylic paints are poured directly onto the canvas, their various weights and drying times creating material analogs for terrain. In their layers of pigment, these canvases reference the passage of geologic time. They also hold memories and sensations drawn from the artist’s nighttime observations. In works from another series, Evans references the agricultural expanse of the California Central Valley, where she grew up. Her warped landscapes have a mystical and hallucinatory quality that stems from her play with scale and abstraction of recognizable forms. 

Nancy Evans (b. 1949, Los Angeles) received a BFA from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1972. She has had solo exhibi¬tions at such venues as Luis De Jesus Los Angeles (2022); Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles (1997); Gasworks, London (1995); and Sue Spaid Fine Art, Los Angeles (1994, 1993, 1992). Group exhibitions include those at Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles (2022); ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena (2016); Torrance Art Museum, California (2015); San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, California (2013); Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena (2008); and San José Museum of Art (2002). She is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant (2008); Rockefeller Foundation Grant (1988); and National Endowment for the Arts Grant (1987).