Autobiography of Chris Smith Evans

An autobiography is a compilation of stories of the people around you, your responses to those stories and of course, your own experiences. My biography is interesting due in great part to knowing so many unusual people who’ve had great stories. In fact, the people and experiences in my life have been so interesting that at times I haven’t quite been able to keep up with it all.

My own story started quietly enough traveling with my military family to Hawaii, California and Washington D.C. After graduating from college I moved to New York City’s Soho district and became part of that vibrant, West Broadway Art world. My early paintings, based upon childhood experiences growing up on military bases during the Vietnam War, received important critical attention from the Independent Curators International, Lucy Lippard and C. David Thomas, organizers of national and international exhibitions on the theme of War, particularly the Vietnam War.

In 1986, following the birth of my son, I purchased a home outside New York City, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in a valley populated by Amish and conservative Mennonites. I began to explore the culture of these plain-clothed people, curious to find out why anyone would choose to live without contemporary comforts like cars and televisions, and found a surprising richness beneath its placid surface. This exploration eventually led me to Chicago where I lived in a Mennonite community radically different from New York City’s SoHo or the military bases I grew up on. Participation in the simple, yet astonishingly generous and service-oriented lifestyle of the Reba Place community transformed my biography. And my painting.

Simplicity and integrity become the goals of my life and my painting. Though these goals were ever elusive, the effort greatly influenced my personal and creative life. And, as my personal and community interests changed more towards working with individuals with exceptional needs, my artwork became simpler and simpler. I found I could express what I wanted to say with only a few colors and a little paint. Like the community around me, I sought out the elemental qualities in my work in order to bring out the important essentials, and found that a rich and strong place to be. This process created work that superficially appears “naïve”, “primitive”, or even “outsider”, terms that I often heard used to describe it.

Ironically, I have found it possible to share more of who I am in my work by taking my very individualistic and naturally “baroque” personality out of it. When asked about the future direction of my work, I confess my plan is to continue to have my work reflect life. Since I am working more with children with special education needs, I trust that collectors of my work can look forward to many interesting surprises. But, whether my subjects are the rural, hive-like community houses of the Amish or the busy Stewards, tending and mending the land, my work will always be the story of my community.

-Chris Smith Evans

Selected Exhibitons
Stephanie Jackson, Healing Arts Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
Midwest Museum of Art, Elkhart, Indiana.
Mary and Leigh Block Galleries, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
Frederick S. Wright Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
Whatcome Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, Washington.
De Cordova and Dana Park Museum and Sculpture Garden. Newton, Massachusetts.
Museum of Art, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.
The David Rodale Gallery, Baum School of Art, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
CU Art Galleries, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
Atlanta College of Art Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia.
Boston University Art Gallery, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Art Center of Battle Creek, Battle Creek, Michigan.
Peace Museum, Chicago, Illinois.
Waterworks, Salisbury, North Carolina.
Herbert Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, New York.
New York State Vietnam Veterans Memorial Gallery, Albany, New York.
White Columns Gallery, New York, New York.
80 Washington Square East Galleries, New York, New York.
Hallwalls Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
Harm Bouckaert Gallery, New York, New York.
Frank Martin Gallery, Muhlenberg College Center for the Arts. Allentown, Pennsylvania.