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Ian Everard: Extricating Memory

July 5 through October 5, 2003

Artist Ian Everard recreates the past. Using watercolors, Everard painstakingly reproduces old photographs and objects, usually unearthed from antique shops. Everard searches for images or objects that strike him, taking note of the smallest details-a pose, a facial expression, or a mistake in the manufacturing. As Everard explains "The medium I use is watercolor, though I am tempted to describe the very act of searching for material as a medium in itself. I say this because I have come to see the use of found objects as a form of language, almost as if it has its own vocabulary" (right: Ian Everard, "Link," 1999. Watercolor/found book)

The focus of Everard's work has changed corresponding to phases in his life. His initial work focused on plant and animal life, and continued on to toys and discarded pocket books, such as pulp romance novels. During the mid nineties, Everard shifted his focus to media photographs, particularly from the World War II era. Everard reflects on the timelessness of the photographs and describes how "The horizontal line pattern which results from the telegraphic process used to send information to the press agency, bears a striking resemblance to the texture of video tape footage seen on television news today."

During the recreation process, Everard becomes aware of the many mistakes apparent in his found objects, and sees his paintings as an inventory of errors. "It seems to go without saying that no image can be taken at face value, but the process of meticulous copying reveals many layers of unforeseen meaning."

Everard was born in Cornwall, Great Britain, and studied at the Stourbridge College in England, and University of California, Santa Cruz. His work has been displayed most recently at the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Jose, the Couturier Gallery in Los Angeles, and the Mirage Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.

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