Ned Evans

Ned Evans has lived and worked in Venice, CA since the early 1970s. He earned an MFA from UC Irvine in 1974. “Emotive rather than purely visual,” the surf-inspired paintings of Venice, California’s Ned Evans are obviously evocative of the ocean’s sway, but are not depictions so much as a collective of physical and sensory reinterpretations of the surf. After over six decades of surfing and painting, a symbiosis occurs between the two, a deeply interwoven relationship feeds both passions. Evans has compiled a wellspring of experiences of and from the ocean and its countless perspectives — from the sand of the beaches to aerial overviews, from absolute immersion to riding the wave and sitting on a board looking back to the land’s horizon. Derived from dream, from memory, from the ephemeral experience the ocean can give to those who love it.”

Working primarily in painting in acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Evans has also spent years exploring photography, collage, and resin and mixed media sculptural reliefs. While his work is unquestionably influenced by the Southern California landscape, it ultimately centers on the (re)construction of edifices and foundations— structures on which the nuances of illusion and light come to rest. He has shown in countless solo and group exhibitions all over the world since 1971. His work has been collected by the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Ed Ruscha, Merv Griffith, The Broad, and the LACMA to name a few.