Lot 1319: Donald H. Evans Painting – Untitled (#6), 1970

Donald Hillis Evans (Tennessee/American, 1939-2013), original acrylic on canvas, depicting colorful pop-art graphics divided into quadrants.  Signed, titled #6, and dated en verso.  Possibly exhibited as part of a joint university faculty show of art professors from Vanderbilt, Peabody and Fisk universities in January-February 1971. 36 in. H x 36 in. W.  Dated 1970. Note: A January 1971 newspaper article from The Tennessean is included in the photo sequence and describes the inaugural Teachers’ Art Show (later called the Fine Arts Festival) and Evans’ exhibit as “a series of acrylic paintings that combine stencils for a three-dimensional effect and atomizer-blown dots of color for luminescence.” “…The series, based on a matrix, reflects my interest in multimedia,’ Evans said.  ‘Sometimes they seem random but the patterns are related.'”  The article continues on to describe Evans’ process: “He may use slide projections to get the image he wants, or use a stencil.  Depending on whether he uses a brush, which makes a clean edge along the stencil, or sprays the paint to ‘fog over’ the edge of the pattern he is able to vary the textural and visual effects.” Biographical notes: “Donald H. Evans was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1962. Evans earned a master of fine arts from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1968.  Evans joined what was then called the Vanderbilt Department of Fine Arts in 1969. As director of the Vanderbilt Media Experimentation Center, he offered pioneering courses in video art, multimedia and computer graphics. Throughout the years, he played an influential role in the Nashville experimental arts community. He retired from the department in 2002. Evans remained active in the arts community after he took emeritus status. He participated in two team-collaborative projects at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in 2007 and 2008.  Seven of his films, including Data Bank and Video Dance, won awards. Evans’ prolific video works include Visual Prison, Light Sensitive People, Jack’s Big Adventure and Tracks Across the Yukon. He passed away May 6, 2013.” Source:  Artist Biography, Don Evans Collection, Special Collections Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

PROVENANCE: Deaccessioned by the Hunter Museum of American Art.

CONDITION: Overall good condition, with several 4-inch linear scuffs to lower left quadrant and scattered light scratches to atomized paint.