Check Out Richard Ewan’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Ewan.

Hi Richard, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I moved to the United States from Jamaica as an eight-year-old, settling on the East Coast in the Baltimore/DC area over 50 years ago. I’m a visual artist, and as a teenager I attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. After graduating, I moved to Cleveland to continue my studies at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where I majored in Painting and Sculpture.

After graduating from CIA, I returned to the DC area and worked as a guard at The Phillips Collection. While there, I attended an event for artist Nancy Graves. We struck up a conversation about art and my path as a young artist fresh out of school. She later helped me secure a scholarship and grant to attend a program she was organizing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which led me to move there in the summer of 1989.

In Santa Fe, I worked for a number of artists and galleries. During that time, I met my wife, who had just returned from studying abroad in France. That summer, we traveled together to Portland, Oregon, where she completed her senior year at Lewis & Clark College. I later moved to Seattle and worked as a guard at the Seattle Art Museum and as a proprietor at the Greg Kucera Gallery.

While in Seattle, I began a body of work titled “Smiling Boy,” which focused on the lives of many of my childhood friends who were tragically caught up in the drug war that devastated communities during the crack epidemic of the 1980s. Ralph Ellison wrote in Invisible Man:

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me…”

These words deeply resonated with me and became the conceptual foundation of the Smiling Boy series. The work explored what it means to be unseen—how people are reduced to stereotypes while their humanity disappears.

The series began in the summer of 1991 when I returned to my childhood home in Baltimore. During my years away, I had lost contact with many friends. I later realized that in losing touch, I had also allowed them to become invisible—to me and to a society largely indifferent to their struggles.

During an open studio event, art critic Matthew Kangas attended and wrote a small piece about my work. He encouraged me to submit to the Bellevue Art Museum, which helped further validate the direction I was pursuing.

In the late summer of 1996, two former classmates encouraged me to visit them in Los Angeles. Kevin Geiger was working at Disney as an animator, and Moon Seun was at Digital Domain. They suggested I bring a portfolio, which led to an interview at Digital Domain for the film Dante’s Peak. I secured the job and moved to Los Angeles two weeks later.

I initially worked as a sculptor, then transitioned into miniature painting. From there, I worked on numerous films at Digital Domain, including Armageddon and Supernova. I later worked at Grant McCune Design on projects like Sphereand U.S. Marshalls, and at New Deal Studios on films such as The Dark Knight, Shutter Island, and Night at the Museum. I also worked briefly at Stan Winston Studios and other effects houses on projects including End of Days.

In the early 2000s, I was hired by Disney to work on Tokyo Disney and Disney California Adventure. Over the past 29 years, I’ve continued working in film and television on projects such as Veep, SEAL Team, and Joker: Folie à Deux, serving as a lead, supervisor, and foreman.

Alongside my film career, I continued exhibiting my fine art. After meeting CCH Pounder, she organized a two-person exhibition featuring my work at her gallery. My artwork is now held in collections by CCH Pounder, Madonna, S. Epatha Merkerson, and others.

We All Face Challenges. Would You Say Your Path Was Relatively Smooth?

Outside of the pandemic shutdown—which halted work for over three months—and the recent writers’ strike that affected the entire industry, I’ve been fortunate to stay consistently employed. I’ve also been elected as a delegate for IATSE Local 729, where I advocate for my fellow union members during this ongoing work shortage. I’ve been a proud member of the union for 29 years, since moving to Los Angeles in 1996.

I also traveled to Sacramento with Local 729 Business Agent Bob Denne to lobby for film tax incentives, which were ultimately approved. Time will tell how that impacts the industry moving forward.

While I wasn’t personally impacted by the January fires, the aftermath did lead to slowdowns and cancellations that affected many projects.

What Else Should We Know About What You Do?

I’m a visual artist working in the film industry as a scenic artist, set painter, and sign writer. My background in fine art gives me a different perspective than many of my colleagues. As a lead painter, my goal is to create atmosphere and support the story—my work should be invisible, allowing the actor’s performance and the writer’s voice to take center stage without reminding the audience they’re on a set.

I’ve been privileged to work with many accomplished production designers, and my experience spans fine art, miniature work, theme park design, and decades of film and television production. That diversity has shaped a well-rounded and unique approach to my work.

What Inspires You or Helps You Do Your Best Work?

• YouTube
• KCRW
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• Instagram
• Pinterest

My inspiration comes from a number of sources and experience including an insatiable appetite for history and the human condition which history shapes. I do a number of research utilizing multiple sources before I complete a piece in my personal work as well as when I produce works creating an atmosphere for film and theme parks. One book of note   which I have been inspired by recently has been ” Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson her ability to use narrative whilst using history to reflect on our collective notion of self which allows the reader  to share a connection and understand who and what we are without using the tropes which we as a society rely on.

Contact Info:

• Website: richardewan@gmail.com
• Instagram: rich.ewan.art
• Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0263850/images?showFeaturedImageSuccess=true