"Influenced by the same California light and landscape made famous by hordes of Los Angeles artists, and living just blocks away from the beach in Venice, California that has spawned more than its fair share of artwork, one finds the works of Ned Evans are rich with the sense of depth and atmosphere that the oceanfront geography evokes. The dichotomous relationship between the natural and man-made is omnipresent in Evans' work. On a regular basis, Evans continues to employ geometry in his compositions alluding to the intersection unique to the California coast where dense urban topography meets the expansiveness of the Pacific.” - Robert Bander, 2005. Ned Evans was born in 1950. This means that he learned to read using a very particular first book, Dick and Jane. The main activities of Dick and Jane were “looking” and “seeing”. How did it happen that the book chosen to teach reading to American children of the Fifties was coincidentally the perfect picture book for the development of optical perception? Perhaps it was no coincidence. After all, western visual tradition since the Renaissance has been concerned with using the eyes to grab and apprehend the world. America of the Fifties shared a similar ambition. It was poised to grab the international political and cultural spotlight from Europe. See - to perceive something with the eyes. Look - to use the eyes to examine, watch, or find. Ned Evans has spent the last 40 years developing his paintings with a self-reflexive emphasis on the visual faculties most revered by Dick and Jane. He pursues meaning through opticality. A lifetime spent watching the water, skies and mountains of California has built an acute optical sensibility. He “looks” at the glazes of the atmosphere that cause the shimmering of west coast light. He “looks” at the way water ripples over and distorts the vision of his surfboard as it moves through the waves. He “looks” into waves to read their design and intent. He continues this examination in his studio as he mixes skeins of color heavily weighted with water. He works over and over the skeins in thin watery glazes until he finds the moment of theatricality that is possible, some would even say inherent, in abstract painting. He works to find an ephemeral game plan of rich, undulating color and light. His artistic fathers are the fathers of abstraction. But his mothers are the air, land and waters of his home. SELECT EXHIBITIONSLos Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CABiola University Art Gallery, La Mirada, CAManhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach, CAGallery Art1307, Naples, ItalyBakersfield Art Museum, Bakersfield, CACarnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA Frederick R.Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CASurfing Heritage and Culture Center, San Clemente, CARiverside City College, Riverside, CAHarwood Museum, Taos, New MexicoLancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Lancaster, CAUniversity of California Irvine, Irvine, CASanta Ana College, Santa Ana, CAPalos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CAIGM Art Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CALAX, Tom Bradley Terminal, Los Angeles, CAThe Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HIBowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA SELECT PUBLIC COLLECTIONSCity of Hope Orange Co. CALos Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CABank of America, Seattle, WAChase Manhattan Bank, New York, NYLaguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CANissan Corporation, Costa Mesa, CAOakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CAHale & Dorr, Boston, MASheraton Hotels, CA, MABoston Stock Exchange, Boston, MAOrange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CAWarner Brothers, Hollywood, CAHard Rock Hotel, Tampa, FLTrump International, Atlantic City, NVCaesar's Palace, Las Vegas, NVLAX Hilton, Los Angeles, CAFour Seasons, Houston, TXTurtle Bay, HawaiiArco CorporationMGM Grand, Las Vegas SELECT PRIVATE COLLECTIONSFrederick R. Weisman Foundation CollectionEli Broad Family FoundationStanley & Elyse GrinsteinDr. & Mrs. Charles SchneiderMerv GriffinAmy EphronWilber JamesEd RuschaEd MosesLindsay + Kenneth BranaghRobert Downey, Jr.