ARTIST STATEMENT

"Having been raised by two scientist parents, I have always had a fascination with all forms of the sciences and this has had a strong influence on my work. For the last 20 years, my paintings have been based primarily on direct observations of the forces of nature at work: the passage of time, the cycles of life and death, growth and decay, changes of season and weather, the mysteries of light. These observations are drawn either directly from my life in rural Pennsylvania on a farm overlooking the Susquehanna River or from childhood memories of such experiences as collecting insects, fossil hunting in the strip mines near Wilkes Barre, PA or summer trips to the beach near Kitty Hawk, NC. In many cases they are about seemingly insignificant events: perhaps an insect metamorphosing, moths fluttering around a light or a distant storm approaching. It is my hope to present these ordinary experiences in such a way that they become greater metaphors for the human experience and specifically my own experiences as an artist, father, husband, and participant in life at the end of the 20th century."  R. Evans  2006

RESUME

EDUCATIONS
BFA Degree, Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

AWARDS AND GRANTS
Ford Foundation
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Pollock-Krasner Foundation
E. D. Foundation, Metro Arts
Eben Demarest Trust

PUBLICATIONS
Paintings have appeared on 7 book covers and have been featured in many publications including American Artist, Art News, New Art Examiner, Central PA Magazine, New American Paintings, the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The artist has appeared on PBS television and radio and WGAL's "12:30 LIVE" show.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Corcoran Gallery of Art
James A. Michener Art Museum
Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art
The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Allentown Art Museum
Noyes Museum of Art
Portland Art Museum
Lancaster Museum of Art
Parkersburg (WV) Art Center
University of Delaware.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
"Recent American Works on Paper" which was organized by the Smithsonian Institution and toured internationally from 1985 - 88

"Washington Moscow Exchange Exhibition" in 1990 which traveled to the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow -- Invited the following year to travel to Moscow to participate in a 5 artist exhibition at the Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (while there, saw the flag over the Kremlin change from Communist to Democratic).

"Artists of the Commonwealth: Realism in Pennsylvania Painting 1950-2000" which traveled to 5 museums around the state in 2001-2002 and featured the work of 25 artists including Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, Andy Warhol, Sidney Goodman, Philip Pearlstein, Alice Neel and Bo Bartlett among others. The full color catalog featured essays on each artist with the essay on Rob Evans written by Terrie Sultan, former Curator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and current Director of the Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston. Evans' 11 foot long painting, Cicada, was acquired from the show by the James A. Michener Art Museum and is now on permanent display there as part of the long term exhibit, Twentieth Century American Painting From the Collection.

Next year Evans will be one of about 20 artists from around the world invited to create an original hand-pulled print for the Corcoran Portfolio which will go on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. in March 2005 and then go on tour to various museums around the country.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
National Arts Club, New York City
Arlington (VA) Arts Center
David Adamson Gallery, Washington, D.C.
National Science Foundation
Lancaster (PA) Museum of Art
Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ
Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA
Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts' new facility in Wilmington, DE
Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery at Lebanon Valley College