// you’re reading...

Interview

Rob Evans p1

READERSVOICE.COM aims to collect a few interesting reading tips. Rob Evans paints and draws scenes inspired by his life along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Many of the paintings feature nocturnal landscapes; these are rich in symbolism and are almost dreamlike.  He has also curated exhibitions, including one of art related to the Susquehanna River area. Mr Evans recommends a fascinating book of letters by one of Pennsylvania’s most outstanding artists. See robevansart.org.

READERSVOICE.COM: One interview in American Artist said that you spent a year in Holland studying the Dutch masters. Do you find they still have a big influence on your work, like with the strong contrasts between light and dark you see in some of your pictures, like in Road Series #6 – Two Maples, and in Winter Flocks and Refuge. If so, is it a conscious influence?

ROB EVANS: The works of the Dutch masters still continue to inspire me, whether it’s the stormy skies of Van Ruisdael, the potent and psychologically charged chiaroscuro of Rembrandt’s landscapes and portraits, or the intimate interiors of Vermeer or De Hooch. I think of them often and continue to incorporate many of their devices and techniques in much of my work, including the examples you mention.

RV: They say it’s important to appeal to the senses in writing. Do you always try to create that sensory aspect in your works, like the cool breeze blowing through the blinds in your beautiful painting Plymouth, or the cold night in Aftermath, and the steam in Threshold?

RE: Yes, that full sensory experience is extremely important to me. – it helps the viewer become fully immersed in the experience of the painting. Often it is what first catches my attention for a potential painting subject even before the visual stimulus – as in my large triptych Cicada, which stemmed from the strong associations I had with childhood memories of the sound of the cicada’s high pitched song in the background during summer stays at my maternal grandparents home and the feel of their crinkly abandoned shells discovered on the tree trunks nearby.

-continued next page

-see robevansart.org

-copyright readersvoice.com