Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Schwarze.
Hi Evan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Exposed to art at an early age, my artistic ability was noticed and encouraged. That support resulted in a BFA degree from the Columbus College of Art and Design. I left Columbus, Ohio after school and relocated to Chicago, Illinois where I began working as an illustrator, primarily for the advertising industry. Within a few years, I was creating artwork for clients such as
Coca-Cola, Hyatt Hotels, McDonald’s, and Disney. I enjoyed it and worked hard at it. It is a deadline-driven business, and I never missed one. When I took time off, I travelled to quiet tropical, off-the-beaten-path places, where the natural beauty is abundant and the daily pace is more relaxed. I began to paint the places I was going, focusing on the environment. Initially painting in watercolor, my focus was always to put the viewer right there. To give the feeling of the salt air or the breeze in the palms or tall grass, the sense of awe and wonder in seeing the breathtaking views, the clarity and movement of the water, or the vastness of space when you can always see the horizon line. These places, these things, are enjoyable, relaxing, and inspiring to me.
I transitioned with the advertising work from physical materials such as paint to digital applications and software. The software was just another medium, the creativity was still in the hands of the user, but I had begun to realize that what I was missing in the new creative process was tangible. I enjoyed the physical process that produced a physical painting, more so that sitting at a desk creating an image on a monitor and sending off a file to someone I had never met. The technology that changed the way I was now working had also opened the door for me to live anywhere I had a reliable internet connection.
So… we, my wife, and I sold our house in Oak Park, Illinois, and moved to the Caribbean Island of Culebra. We traded our commute into downtown Chicago for a 5-minute commute from a quiet hillside into town, consisting of one stop sign. Perfectly quiet, clean, and beautiful Culebra is a 3 x 7-mile island between Puerto Rico and St Thomas. We opened a gallery and gift shop, filling the walls with my oil paintings and the work of a few other artists. My paintings during this time were smaller, 8x10s to 30×40 inches.
As I produced more paintings, I began doing shows back in the states while still living in Culebra. As I did more shows, I began producing larger paintings, all oils, some aerial views some more traditional views, focusing on the tropical environment.
Working with the relationships of transparent and opaque applications of the oil paint, side by side, thin and thick, I create a vibrancy of light and the feeling of movement of the air and water. Fields of layered color and thicker opaque applications define the scenes and the depth of field; people or manmade objects in the paintings are generally more to give us a better sense of scale or to give us the ability to picture ourselves there. Ultimately, it is the beauty in the world, in the environment, that inspires me. It is the search for the next best spot, enjoying the journey that produces my next painting and leads me onward into the next.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have worked hard and produced a great deal of work over the last 20 years in different media and for many different companies and individual collectors. My artistic journey has been relatively smooth through some drastic changes in location, type of work, and the materials used to create. Through it all, I have maintained a belief that it is easy to get used to being busy. It is also easy to get used to doing nothing. I as an artist got used to being busy, creating work, and having pride in what I was creating. That ethic and that pride have been important in all aspects of my life. My paintings have allowed me the opportunity to meet many amazing people, and have created friends and clients that will inspire me to keep creating.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My large-scale oil paintings focus on the tropical environment. Painting on canvas, utilizing all stages of the creation, from very raw abstract forms to the very finished areas, I create the scene with fields of translucent layers of color that stand on their own along thicker opaque areas and strokes of color creating an impressionistic painting that vibrates with light, color, and movement. My recent work includes large aerial view paintings, some more traditional view seascapes, and some multi-piece paintings.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.evanschwarze.com
- Instagram: Evan.Schwarze
Image Credits
Evan Schwarze
