Brendan Monroe and Evah Fan open up
by The duo of Brendan Monroe and Evah Fan are one of those creative, powerhouse couples. Though two entirely individual artists, the influence they exert upon one another is subtle yet undeniable. Both create the kind of art that that makes you giddy with pleasure, while the lack of pretension puts you completely at ease. You get the undeniable sense that these are two people who simply live and breathe creativity and love every moment of it. Two amazing artists with a wholly individual take on life and the world around them. I had the pleasure to grill them both.
Where did you both go to school?
Brendan: ‘I went to school at Art Center in Pasadena, California’.
Evan: ‘Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, with you Ilana!’
Since school up until now, what’s your journey been like?
Brendan: ‘Oh, so much. Well both of us met right after school. We had a group show together in LA and it was our first after graduating. Then we hung out a bunch and made some magic happen, or whatever. Work wise, we just tried to stay alive and keep working. I figured out that illustration wasn’t really my thing, and then I went more down a “gallery” path with my work’.
Evah: ‘A journey revisiting my teen years. In order to survive, my credentials opened doors to minimum-waged jobs. Once as a clerk at a local copy shop (there’s plenty here in Berkeley) and another as a shipping assistant at a little shipping place right after graduation. Together these two jobs gave me more insights to making zines and miscellaneous shipping details. I guess it is rather helpful. Slowly, I got a chance to do some illustrations and participate in small exhibits showing my paintings. All in all, a little rough ride in the beginning, and now it’s a little better, to be able to work from home fulltime in my late 20s, I am thankful’.
How did you find your style? How would you say it’s evolved since you began?
Brendan: ‘Well, at first when you are a student you kind of take a lot in from your environment and your style or way of doing things is not necessarily your own yet. That’s one thing I felt was really nice to look forward to after school, letting things take their own way with less input from all sides. Then eventually, you find out what you want things to look like and what you want to say. At least it sort of worked that way for me’.
Evah: ‘I think my style came through from my compulsive obsessive from cleaning? Somewhere in the midst of developing my idea, my paintings reduced in size and I am bending forward to paint, which is not healthy for my eyes. I get anal-retentive when it comes to painting, a result of household chores. I didn’t always paint so small, in school days, I think they were normal size. I enjoy painting with flat color; early style draws from cartoon and comic influence’.
How would you say your work has influenced one another?
Brendan: ‘The most in our own ways we kind of push each other to try new things. Evah’s always trying to get me to use some blue’.
Evah: ‘Our work is quite different and I admired how Brendan is process oriented, where as I really have to dig hard to project what I want to paint. There’s spontaneity lack in mine that is apparent in his work. Unconsciously, I dabbled into making three-dimensional sculptures from seeing all these wonderful wood sculptures come alive from him using his band saw’.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Brendan: ‘Hmmm. . . My work, I’m happy when I can make something a little strange and sort of eerie, but not scary, while also making something I think is fairly beautiful, if that makes sense.
Evah: On the economic scale, my artwork is kind of travel-size friendly. It’s compact in a sense, and I’ve been told from gallerist to bring my small originals (save on shipping?) and frame in the final destination. I do however enjoy depicting my scatter-brained fragments into some sort of naïve narratives’.
If and/or when you find yourself in a creative slump, what do you both do to try and get out of it?
Brendan: ‘I just try and work anyway, though it can get tough. Or take a break, but I don’t always have that choice. Drink coffee’.
Evah: ‘Take a coffee break. Sometimes I get really frustrated I boycott working for a few hours, until something good sparks up. The drill goes, I vent my frustration out on Brendan and a good meal goes a long way!’
Plans for future projects?
Brendan: ‘Our next show will be in Paris at Galerie L.J. Beaubourg. We’re not positive what we are going to have in the show, but I think I might like to try experimenting with some microorganisms, though who knows if they will turn into finished pieces or not‘.
Evah: ‘I want to paint bigger, but of smallish things. Also longing for a sojourn abroad’.
Tagged: Brooklyn, Brooklyn artists, New York, New York artists
- 9
- 4
RELATED
I love the vibrancy and subtleness about the work of Brooklyn artist, Ian Carpenter, whose paintings were exhibited in a solo show in Chelsea, New York last year. Read more
Brooklyn Illustrator Sam Friedman has the most graceful line quality. In whatever form it takes, from abstract line to bold cursive, it’s this beautiful line quality that is clearly the embodiment of his work. In Friedman’s work, this line is often built up in dense, colorful layers to create the most intense abstract fields, guaranteed make your eyes spin. Punctuated with bold shapes and imagery, with a distinct graffiti influence, Freidman makes it pretty clear that the boundaries for his technique are endless. Read more
The work of Brooklyn artist Cosme Herrera is beautiful, subtle and imbued with a deep sense of meaning. ‘As I constantly question man-made constructs, I search for a universal language’, he says. ‘Through this body of work, I seek to define my own logos. Logos are a system of symbols designed for easy and definite recognition. Using a system of logos, I explore my relationship with wood through metaphors and parables. My use of wood is observant of the information trees contain and communicate. Their rings, like an analogical language, tell the story of the tree’s experience through starvation, growth, long winters and wet springs’. Read more
Also by ILANA KOHN
Sixth Pommery Exhibition Sons & Lumieres
How much better can it get than little dollops of contemporary art interspersed throughout the breathtaking setting of Champagne Pommery’s Domaine in Reims, France. The most interesting part here is that this is an ongoing tradition at Champagne Pommery, going all the way back to the 19th century ‘when Madame Pommery commissioned sculptor Gustav Navlet to carve four bas reliefs for the estate and later had the famous cabinet maker and glass artist Emile Gallé create a solid oak Pommery barrel that holds up to 19,816 gallons (100,000 bottles). This barrel was displayed at the 1904 Worlds’ Fair in St. Louis’. The upcoming Sixth Pommery Exhibition, Sons & Lumieres, will be curated by French artist Bertrand Lavier and will include ‘everyday objects often set in difficult spaces’. Read more
Color heaven! Perusing UK illustrator Ben O’Brien’s portfolio feels a lot like wandering the aisles of a giant candy store. I could buy one of everything in sight. Read more
I love it! With the CD now being eclipsed by the MP3, I find myself feeling even more nostalgic for the simple charm of the cassette. Australian artists Andrew Smart and Jared Schmidt create ‘large scale hand-made wooden cassette tapes, routed, sanded, bogged, primed, and painted with a high quality paint finish’. Aha! The perfect way to memorialize my old mix tapes. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (4)
Gary said | 13 June, 2008
An interesting read. The intense colour usage is splendid.
Amazing works of art.
michelle said | 29 July, 2008
you guys are so wonderful!
curiousmoth said | 3 October, 2008
♥ the third one, super good colours!
HAVE YOUR SAY
I recently stumbled across the work of UK illustrator Goncalo Viana and was immediately smitten by his unique sense of abstraction. His faces, with their undulating lines and simplified modeling, combine with his colorful, undulating bodies, backgrounds and textures to create a fantastically interesting juxtaposition of elements which coexist beautifully on the page. Read more
One of my favourite venues in New York is Brooklyn’s Union Hall, right around the corner from Tamari, a super sushi joint. Upstairs they have two massive fireplaces burning and a bocce ball court. Yup, bocce. Downstairs you feel like you’ve walked into the museum of natural history where you can see live bands on a stage reminiscent of grandma’s living room.
Australian label Eliza Clare/Adornus is the creative project of Samantha Grant, Sally Wilson and Emma Jackson and is named after Sarah Eliza Clare, a noted couturier in Sydney during the 1930s and 40s who was actively involved in the fashion industry until her early 70s. Read more
I love Sam Weber’s illustration of Bjork. It captures the mischievous twinkle that seems omnipresent in her eyes whilst also presenting her in an environment which pays homage to her somewhat mystical musical approach. [more about Sam Weber]
Since they blew up with the release of their debut album, All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer have become the hottest thing to come out of Brooklyn since the $2.25 pizza slice from Luigi’s on Dekalb. We checked in with bassist Ira Wolf Tuton and asked him for a list of songs that are rocking his world right now. Read more
Seldom has black humour been done so well. On the surface, this film about the everyday lives of some unusually mundane characters, sounds extraordinarily boring. But it is instead a cutting comment on the absurdity and drudgery of everyday life. The characters try to break out or change their lives without success, and the results are bleak and hilarious. Read more
Last week when the 2008 ARIA nominations were released, I was so happy to see the recognition of Melbourne’s Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Their album Primary Colours is pure, unadulterated Aussie rock, standing out from the numerous electro releases we’ve had this year. The band manages to capture that wonderful pub-vibe without any pretension or tragic nostalgia. Primary Colours speaks to people who still seek an existence that is all about wearing ripped jeans, loitering and punching people in the face … not in a violent way, but because your fist flailed in that direction while you were thrashing around front of stage.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Charlie Immer’s pastel-pallete sometimes obfuscates the gory violence in his surreal images. At other times, it heightens the gut-wrenching and visceral effect of his work. Read more
Karen Caldicott’s clay head models
British born, New York-based model maker Karen Caldicott has been making clay heads for all major US publications over the last decade. Read more
Our celebrity-saturated culture makes many of us irrationally hateful of the faces we see on our TV screens and magazine pages. Good thing there’s Celebrity PunchOut to let off some of that steam.
Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
This cool black unisex t shirt by UK label Client is made in England, printed in Berlin, and beautifully packaged in East Berlin cartonage, especially designed for Client. Read more
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
Gary said | 13 June, 2008
An interesting read. The intense colour usage is splendid. Amazing works of art.