Chris Evans

Throughout the lecture Chris Evans spoke about how important day to day conversation is in his practice and how this along with individuals public life and roles are what his work often evolves from. 

An example of one of Chris' works that demonstrate this element of his 
practice greatly is 'The Rock and the Judge' which is a sculpture made using white plaster. When making this piece Chris was responding to a drawing of a judge made by a policeman which was then framed and hung on a wall. Which lead him to make this rock like sculpture which he felt was the prisoner and the animistic value given to a prisoner from people such as judges. Chris installed this piece in a dark blue room with the framed drawing hanging above the sculpture almost looking down at it. Chris then took this sculpture further installing it in many different situations and environments such as a police office and jail. 

With this piece of work I have found myself more interested in the installation rather than the sculpture itself. As the piece being installed into the prison cell with the framed drawing hanging above the sculpture really brings to life the idea of a prisoners persona and how they are viewed by authoritative figures such as the judge. 
However this isn't a kind of work I think i'd look at doing myself so I didn't find this too useful in correspondence with my own practice. However I found another element of Chris' practice involving the use of exhibitions useful and this may encourage something with my own work. 

Chris also mentioned how he tries to get involved with many exhibitions and shows as this seemed to be important with his practice, allowing him to experiment with different places and the dynamics with other works, but he also likes to create his own exhibitions whenever and wherever he can. For instance he travelled across Amsterdam and used a caravan to display a mini exhibition across the country. I absolutely love this idea of displaying work in a conventional item for travelling and almost leaving your own mark on the country. 

I have found this specific element of Chris' lecture useful as I am planning on backpacking this summer and was worried about getting into the habit of not creating any, but have now been inspired to try and make little works that I will display in each place I go. I'm not entirely sure on how to approach this yet, but I may contact Chris Evans to see if he has any further information and advice on who to proceed with this idea and incorporate this with my own practice. 

Notes from the lecture: