Sketch show exudes intensity

It has been about seven months since Sturgeon County artist Daniel Evans reconstructed a treehouse that his Opa built for him when he was a child. Sanctuary, the name of the Latitude 53 exhibit containing this structure, also came with a few sketches that lined the walls. The sketches were really good but the viewer’s attention was compelled to stick with the treehouse.

Fast-forward to now and Evans has returned with a new show just a few blocks away at the Visual Arts Alberta Gallery. Body/Language has no such childhood recreation to divert attention away from the walls. Gallery B is a much smaller space than what Evans had at Latitude, after all. What he has, however, is a very strong display of several of his sketches that show off the full measure of his talent. It would serve visitors well to recall his graphic novels called Threshold and Galleria to be better prepared for this exhibit. Coming in cold is a challenging affair.

The show – despite the small space – is huge. There are really only three pieces that comprise Body/Language but each piece is immense in its own right. Two of the three pieces themselves are comprised of multiple panel diptychs or triptychs.

Turn Away is the first in the series that seemingly tells the story of two lovers as they experience a romantic relationship. While considered one work, it actually consists of two separate works, one for each figure. The figure on the left is in itself a diptych while the right one has four panels.

The second work, Wake (Ayin, Wav, Resh), is a triptych with both figures together on each panel. The scope is large with each reaching life-size or perhaps a little larger scale. Clutch (Peek-a-Boo), the third and last work, is a relatively small canvas with one figure in front and presumably the other in back.

There is a definite narrative at play here. First, we see each figure separately and in sections to represent some kind of lack of wholeness and yearning. Evans drew these ones in sepia-like colour acrylic and contĂ©. Next, they move together even connecting with each other in each of Wake’s three panels but there is still something of a struggle within their dance of passion and interdependence. Clutch shows them in a tender embrace yet leaves us to wonder what has transpired. There is only one figure visible but three unknown pairs of hands clutch at its torso. Has this relationship soured or are there other frictions and influences that we know not of?

Evans is a smart artist and this is a much more compelling show than Sanctuary. His artistry is strong and his sketches provide glorious detail in the human form, especially in the hands and musculature of these two figures. He was obviously intent on making them sexually ambiguous, as we never get a glimpse of either their faces or their pubic areas.

In his artist statement, he talks of exploring archetypal star-crossed lovers like Tristan and Yseult or Orpheus and Euridice. There is obviously an attempt to realign traditional gender roles within these long-held cultural stories and beliefs. For all we know, these two figures could be the same sex. Indeed, there is much reason to think that they are, but because we don’t see any distinguishing characteristics, the viewer is left to either ignore the question or determine that it isn’t important. In the void there is a bold ink line that runs through both figures, connecting them and making obvious their union.

Sharon Moore-Foster, program and development co-ordinator at the VAAA, admires Evans’ intimate knowledge of the figure and his ability to demonstrate their vitality. It’s an impressive feat, she says.

“You feel pressure and forces all around them. I get a lot of the sense of tension and embrace and connection and dissonance. He is fabulous at drawing the grace and elegance of the figure.”

She added that the sheer size and scale of the works holds power and compels the viewer into the images themselves.

“You’re present in the dance. You’re present in the lifting. The scale really adds to the viewer’s engagement in the process of the relationship.”