Evelyn Tan (b.2002) is a Vancouverite artist currently based in Los Angeles. Her work has been exhibited across the US and internationally, including Wönzimer and La BEAST gallery, as well as shows in New York, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Beijing, and Tokyo. She holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Thank you for speaking with us. Could you introduce your practice and how your early experiences growing up as an only child shaped the way you draw and imagine?
Thank you for having me. I am a multidisciplinary visual artist, often using mixed media and sometimes including that drawing sensibility into my paintings. I think the easiest way to explain my work would be that it is very dreamy, yet introspective and ironic in nature. The passivity in all elements, while indulgent, is often fabricated, and narrative easter eggs around the compositions allude to this. I think having grown up as an only child, and especially, a very sensitive child, I experienced an intense need for self exploration, yet I felt a yearning for a sibling to confide in. I was creative, but not creative in the sense that I had a vibrant imaginary friend by my side–instead I channeled that energy into drawing companions, and funnelled the remaining energy into stuffed animals.
Your work often features “sister selves,” recurring characters, and symbolic worlds. What role do these figures play in how you understand identity and selfhood?
The aforementioned drawn companions have since manifested in a series of self-imposed avatars, as if they are living parallel lives that run adjacent to mine. Each avatar explores deviations or hyperboles to the events of my life, and adopts slight adjustments to character, whether that be an increased sense of audacity, fear, naiveté, or even sexiness. The resulting pieces rarely provide a solid answer, but rather flirt with the idea of something new entirely. To me, they create an understanding of the possibility of the self in a very non-linear way.
Drawing seems to function as both companionship and construction in your practice. What does the act of drawing allow you to preserve or hold onto?
While I think drawing allows me to chase a sense of nostalgia, I consider it more an alchemical medium in which it transforms my memories into something that exists presently and beyond the reality of my lived experience. I think one of the most beautiful strongpoints of drawing is that it is able to capture feeling, materialize it somewhat, and export it again as something new entirely.
Your figures often appear connected—through gesture, proximity, or shared space. What draws you to themes of connection, multiplicity, and inner worlds?
Perhaps it’s that I grew up in a somewhat isolated way. I came of age in suburbian Vancouver in a 3 person household, and had very few friends growing up. At first, I think my drawings came from a deep desire to express myself more outwardly, where I was otherwise too shy to do so in person. That later transformed into an interest in the dynamics of my closest relationships, as well as the conversations I have with myself. What I grapple with frequently in my artwork is the desire for sovereignty, fortified by both real and imagined modes of being.
Thinking about community, how do relationships—real, imagined, or artistic—influence your sense of belonging and your work?
Art has certainly functioned as the largest medium for companionship in my life, both literally and figuratively. It is art that has connected me to some of my closest friends and plenty of lovely acquaintances today, and it is art that allowed me to create companions of my own when I was a more awkward child. I think there’ve been many instances in my life where I felt a sort of imposter syndrome, but I feel that art is where I was able to relinquish those feelings entirely. For reasons unknown to me, I never felt embarrassed about sharing my work, even though in hindsight, I look back at some of it and cringe myself. I think the joy of developing something supersedes all fears that I would otherwise have, and reflect and continue to shape who I am as a person in and outside of art. By proxy, it has also connected me to people who inspire me greatly, as we may resonate with each other.
Do you have any advice that you would offer to others?
I think the best fuel for creativity is to go on walks and to develop a genuine interest in others and in nature. The simple act of people watching, or of listening intently before speaking, holds much more space than you imagine. These are the acts that expand your inner and outer worlds, and that feed your reality, and hence your artistic output. And when you create that output, please don’t be afraid to share it. I think passionate people are the coolest.
text & photo courtesy of Evelyn Tan
- Website: https://www.evelyntan.net/
- Instagram: @o3oeve
