Today we’d like to introduce you to Evah Fan.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Growing up, my mom had an abundance supply of real estate flyers and because I like to draw, the blank backside of these flyers naturally became my sketchbook. I always feel a need to express myself by creating. My attempts to multitask started early, drawing while watching TV, which I still do now. In college, I studied Communications Design with an emphasis on Illustration. After school, I became a freelance illustrator while juggling a few odd jobs. During this time, I was also participating in many group shows that slowly led to preparing for my own solo shows and designing the space that contains them. After a while I was feeling stagnant, I heard about the magical place where higher education was free (unheard of in USA!) and returned back to school and received my Master’s from Konstfack in Sweden. I want to be making art for the long run so it’s important for me to keep honing my skills even though I don’t always have the luxury of prioritizing time to work now that I have a baby, ouch.
Please tell us about your art.
I paint and illustrate, some the size of a pecan! I enjoy elementary school humor and consume a lot of useless information (fun facts, footnotes and whatnot) my name pronounced in Swedish means “what the hell.” I mostly paint works on paper but I also enjoy painting big, getting a taste of painting murals opened my eyes. Perhaps it’s my love for stationery that also lend my work into making art multiples and products. I love to geek out on formats, making zines, totes and other novelties. My work is inspired by words, some kind of linguistic puzzles forming in my head that I would like to share with you! Mind you, I find it fun to depict the little things in life. Patterns and color play big roles too. I get a little rush in my brain when the color ‘clicks’ and experimenting with the different combinations. My goal is to make books, for your kids and that kid inside you.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
I would like to suggest to artists who are thinking to become parents to check out some productivity or time management courses. I didn’t realize I had all the time in the world…until my baby arrived.
What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
Hmmm…this is a hard one, maybe a little of both? I still feel very conflicted about it. On one hand I know we are very lucky to live in a time where art is thriving and artists can actually make a living doing what they do as it has become easier for artists to put work there with the help of social media, like Instagram. As a result of this, artists are prone to get side-tracked too like devoting too much time to curate the content of work because the pressure to have to constantly post work to show that you are alive or is still making work. Unless you are very well established already, I guess you wouldn’t have to worry about that. Since when do we care so much about having followers and feeling awful when people don’t like your posts? Even though I know all of this is supposedly good for the “business,” it still feels very odd to me. Anyway, it is definitely interesting; I will ride it out and see where it goes.
Long before artists were parents, their work is like their babies. And when the real babies arrive, work is nowhere to be found. Something I would love to see more in all art supporting communities is to have more opportunities for parents who are also artists. Specifically, I wish there are more affordable daycares for parents; one that has no waiting lists could help, ha ha, wishful thinking. Art takes time and when you enter parenthood, time is never on your side. I know the situation is not exclusive to artists but I can see this being super encouraging and helpful to keep artists going. Making work is just as important as your greatest work of art, ahem, that tiny person. I vote for more art residencies that are geared for artists and their children. I actually came across this wonderful site a while back: http://www.mothersinarts.com/ It is a small initiative based in Amsterdam and they are inspired by Lenka Clyton, whose ideals are to “empower and inspire artists who are also mothers”. These young women in Europe took turns taking each other’s children while making art, fist bumps, now where can I sign up?
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I have some original works available for sale at Galerie L.J. in Paris and Park Life Store/Gallery in San Francisco. You can find my murals in Long Beach and Seattle. I will be painting with Pow Wow Japan next month, meanwhile preparing some new zines and products for West Coast Craft and Comic Arts L.A towards the end of the year.
I encourage people to support every artist’s own personal shop if any because most likely they run that by themselves. Shamelessly to say, I run my own online shop: http://evahfan.tictail.com, Yep, I am that little elf in shipping and production and will lick the stamps too. Over the Summer, I made some prints available online with Sodo Track in Seattle, half of the sales goes back to the art program and half supporting the artist ☺ https://sodotrack.com/product/evah-fan/
Contact Info:
- Website: http://evahfan.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evahscat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Evah-Fan-261720997208944/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/evahscat
- Other: my review of Shopify.
Image Credit:
©Evah Fan
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
