February 4 - March 23, 2023
John Evans & John O'Connor Catalogue essay by Sasha Helinski
A Joy Ride for Dogs
by Sasha HelinskiA poetic appreciation for the everyday links John Evans and John O’Connor together. In particular, I am struck by their mutual interest in reconsidering the mundane. For Evans, this is the habitual attention to the discarded, lost, or ignored. Everyday, Evans collected “found objects'' o the street in his daily comings and goings. Whether clever, quaint reminders from the post o ce (''Mail early in the day” or “use zip code” in March 11, 1976), a label from an Italian beer bottle (March 31, 1982), a suggestive, cheeky ad for a photo studio (December 14, 1977), photos of an orange cat (June 18, 1975), or a gra tied sticker (July 8, 1989), each item was adopted and given a new life in a collage of sandcastle-like assemblages of bygones, often flanked by birds, perhaps on their own walks to make their own collages. In a sense, each artwork is a multi-generational object.
O’Connor on the other hand, is a collector of questions and answers, memories, and ruminations. I look at these paintings and drawings as earnest odes to our obsessive curiosities. The subjects themselves are pulled from O’Connor’s everyday life: the memory of an old boss who was a lottery-hobbyist, , his 9-year-old son’s math homework, blood pressure recordings, news headlines (which are at best wacky and at worst frightening), or even the universal experience of wondering what the time is.
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Installation view, Sim Buhls. Photograph by Gregory Staley.
O’Connor digs deeply into each topic, almost like an anthropologist, investigating, considering and reconsidering why something is the way that it is. In doing so, a prosaic, everyday subject such as buying a new car becomes a sincere and thoughtful puzzle-like portrait.
Both artists are incredibly generous in sharing themselves in their artwork. Evans o ers us his eye. His daily collages function as diary entries. We are invited to join him in recalling his day, appreciating the ephemera that caught his eye, relics he has collected and choreographed. We get to be the birds walking alongside him.
O’Connor gives us a peephole into his mind. We see him working through his hypotheses and musings, cataloging his attempts at guessing the correct time or questioning the power of conspiracies through mathematics and pattern-making. In Lucky Number, crossed out words show us the man behind the curtain, the artist working out his own conclusions on the surface of the painting itself.
Like a layered cake, between the sincerity and earnestness of each artist’s practice is a jammy filling of humor and playfulness. O’Connor looks out for the absurdities in life and our own funny fallacies, whether that’s wasting your entire income to make enough money to cover the di erence between said income and the cost of a new corvettealmost a sad, single person’s version of Gift of the Magi, or the whole concept of the “weight loss industry.” Through his self-imposed rules to organize his findings, thoughts, and recordings, O’Connor’s
drawings and paintings become almost gameboard-like. Jumbled, brightly colored, interlocking geometric shapes, growing together, sprawling across the page, meandering or zippy at times, taking the viewer’s hand and pulling us through its workings. Often coupled with playful, cartoonish lettering, there is an undeniable “fun” quality to the work. At the same time, visually, they remarkably capture the experience of deep contemplation: an organic, sometimes tangled, organization attempting to straighten oneself out by digging deeper.
In Evans’ collages, wit and levity reign. A wrapper for a Black Panther Whistling Bottle Rocket sits atop a ripped school photo like a hat, under a billboard-like, literal “Debris” sticker, and alongside the ironic “In case of defect, return this slip with garment.” They are winking at us. We hope the garment is not defective, as the inspection slip has started a new life on and in July 9, 1989 Meanwhile, the seagulls in the back are minding their own business. It’s a dance of misfits.
When considering the two Johns, I try to guess what their conversation might’ve been like had they ever met. They share an appreciation for the everyday, both the utterly banal or completely odd, and taking the time to dig in and lean fully into that interest - like a joy ride for dogs. A di erent way of looking, listening, discerning, and ultimately enjoying. I like to think of them reading absurd headlines together and reaching far back into their brains for anecdotes. I read a headline not too long ago about a chicken roaming around Central
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Park watching dogs. A few weeks later, I stumbled across the follow-up story about the wayward chicken and his rescue and deployment to a “chicken sanctuary.” Perhaps another old boss of John’s had a chicken or maybe John himself had once wondered about the miscellaneous, unescorted animals roaming around Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Perhaps John had once come across a traveling chicken of his own while on a hunt for his daily collage and used a feather in a September collage. It’s fun to imagine.
Sasha Helinski, February 2023
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Installation view, Sim Buhls. Photograph by Gregory Staley.
Installation view, Sim Buhls. Photograph by Gregory Staley.
THE WORKS
John Evans
March 2, 1976, 1976
Mixed media collage
11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
John Evans
March 11, 1976, 1976
Mixed media collage
11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
March 31, 1982, 1982
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
John Evans
November 29, 1977, 1977
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
December 14, 1977, 1977
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
John Evans
December 16, 1977, 1977
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
November 8, 1981, 1981
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
John Evans
November 15, 1981, 1981
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
cm)
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Installation view, Sim Buhls.
Photograph by Gregory Staley.
John Evans
June 18, 1975, 1975
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
John Evans
December 17, 1981, 1981
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
July 9, 1974, 1974
Mixed media collage 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
December 20, 1982, 1982
Mixed media collage 10 3/4 x 7 1/2 in (27.3 x 19.1 cm)
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John Evans
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
October 10, 1987, 1987
Mixed media collage 10 x 7 in (25.4 x 17.8 cm)
John Evans
March 17, 1984, 1984
Mixed media collage 8 x 5 in (20.3 x 12.7 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
September 14, 1976, 1976
Mixed media on paper 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
September 14, 2008, 2008
Mixed media collage 10 1/4 x 8 in (26 x 20.3 cm)
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John Evans
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
Courtesy of Michael Abrams & Sandra Stewart Collection, Washington D.C.
John Evans
July 9, 1989, 1989
Mixed media collage 10 1/2 x 7 3/4 in (26.7 x 19.7
John Evans
September 1, 1990, 1990
Mixed media on paper 11 x 8 1/2 in (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
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Courtesy of Michael Abrams & Sandra Stewart Collection, Washington D.C.
cm)
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
February 18, 1976, 1976
Mixed media collage
10 1/2 x 7 3/4 in (26.7 x 19.7 cm)
March 5, 1982, 1982
Mixed media collage 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 in (26.7 x 18.4 cm)
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John Evans
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Installation view, Sim Buhls.
Photograph by Gregory Staley.
John Evans
February 26, 1977, 1977
Mixed media collage
10 1/2 x 7 1/2 in (26.7 x 19.1 cm)
John Evans
April 25, 1985, 1985
Mixed media collage
10 3/4 x 7 3/4 in (27.3 x 19.7 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
March 27, 1982, 1982
Mixed media collage 10 1/4 x 7 1/4 in (26 x 18.4 cm)
John Evans
December 31, 2000, 2000
Mixed media collage 12 3/4 x 9 1/4 in (32.4 x 23.5 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
June 19, 1984, 1984
Mixed media collage 8 x 5 in (20.3 x 12.7 cm)
John Evans
March 15, 1984, 1984
Mixed media collage 8 x 5 in (20.3 x 12.7 cm)
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
February 15, 1984, 1984
Mixed media collage 8 x 5 in (20.3 x 12.7 cm)
March 12, 1984, 1984
Mixed media collage 8 x 5 in (20.3 x 12.7 cm)
John Evans
Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
John Evans
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Courtesy of the Estate of John Evans and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York.
Installation view, Sim Buhls. Photograph by Gregory Staley.
Conspiracy: Faker Sent INN, 2019
Colored pencil and graphite on paper 69 1/4 x 49 1/4 in (175.9 x 125.1 cm)
John O'Connor31
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
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John O'Connor A1515, 2016
Colored pencil and graphite on shaped paper 10 1/2 x 9 1/2 in (26.7 x 24.1 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
John O'Connor I Glanced / You Glanced, Colored pencil and graphite on 14 x 11 in (55.9 x 35.6 cm)
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Glanced, 2022 on paper
John O'Connor ZERO 2 zero, 2019
Colored pencil and graphite on cut paper 12 1/2 x 11 in (31.8 x 27.9 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
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John O'Connor Lenny, 2020
Colored pencil and graphite on paper 69 x 39 1/2 in (175.3 x 100.3 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
Installation view, Sim Buhls. Photograph by Gregory Staley.
John O'Connor
Together, 2022
Colored pencil, graphite, on cut and layered paper 40 x 26 in (101.6 x 66 cm)
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Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
John O'Connor Lucky Number 4 (Mutation of Lucky Number), 2012
Colored pencil and graphite on shaped paper 30 x 22 1/2 in 76.2 x 57.1 cm
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
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Installation view, Sim Buhls. Photograph by Gregory Staley.
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John O'Connor American Sun, 2016
Colored pencil and graphite on paper 79 x 71 in (200.7 x 180.3 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
Installation view, Sim Buhls.
Photograph by Gregory Staley.
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John O'Connor
Hitchcock’s Rope, 2019
Colored pencil and graphite on paper 48 3/4 x 36 3/4 in (123.8 x 93.3 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
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John O'Connor
Bob and Rick, 2022
Colored pencil and graphite on paper 14 x 11 in (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
John O'Connor One Seventeenth, 2022
Colored pencil and graphite on paper 15 1/2 x 11 in (39.4 x 27.9 cm)
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Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
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John O'Connor Implosion Explosion, 2018
Colored pencil and graphite on shaped paper 74 x 57 in (188 x 144.8 cm)
Courtesy the Artist and Pierogi Gallery
THE ARTISTS
1976,
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March 11,
1976, Mixed media collage, 1 x 8 1/2 in © John Evans
John Evans
b. 1932, Sioux Falls, SD
John Evans (1932-2012) made daily collages for nearly forty years out of discarded materials found on the streets of New York. His disciplined, idiosyncratic practice recorded life in an earnest manner, capturing the minutiae of a changing neighborhood, art scene, and city through their endless fragments. On view in this exhibition are a selection of over sixty mixed media collages, the majority of which are rendered on 11 x 8 1/2 inch copy paper.
Arriving in the East Village in 1963 after attending the Art Institute of Chicago, Evans quickly turned his attention from abstract painting to collage, a tactic firmly rooted in earlier 20th-century traditions of art making. Inspired by Hannah Höch, Joseph Cornell, and Kurt Schwitters, Evans developed a highly site-specific practice that responded to materials found in his immediate environment. His involvement in the international mail art movement equally informed his style: correspondence with contemporaries like Ray Johnson, May Wilson, and Buster Cleveland unfold across the pages of his notebooks.
In a 2004 essay, art historian Robert M. Murdock observes how Evans’s collages are in fact “page-sized paintings that extend the boundaries of the medium.” Evans uniquely avoided the more common collage method of llayering; instead, he isolated pasted elements on the page as discrete forms. The artist used ink to connect and build frames around the individual shapes, then completing the composition with watercolor washes.
The detritus Evans collected was limitless in its formal and psychic properties. Business cards, fortune cookie aphorisms, newspaper clippings, receipts, passport and family photographs, box labels, stickers, embroidered fabric, envelopes, and pencil shavings, among many other things, commune in the artist’s diaristic work to tell infinitely associative stories about the history of the East Village and New York. Each collage, dutifully stamped with the day, month, and year of its making, marks a singular moment in time and the evolving vision of an artist living in and of the world.
John Evans (1932-2012) was born in Sioux Falls, SD, and lived and worked for most of his life in the East Village, New York. He has had solo exhibitions at The New York Historical Society, New York; the Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ; The Arts Club of Chicago, IL; Pavel Zoubok Fine Art, Cordier & Ekstrom, and Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York, among others. Evans was recently included in Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978-1983 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Other group exhibitions include Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR; Pavel Zoubok Fine Art, P.P.O.W., and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY; and the XVI Bienal de Sao Paulo, BR. His work is included in the collections of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
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Hitchcock’s Rope, 2019, Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 48 3/4 x 36 3/4 in © John O’Connor
John O’Connor
b. 1972, Westfield, MA
John J. O'Connor was born in Westfield, MA and received an MFA in painting and an MS in Art History and Criticism from Pratt Institute in 2000. He attended The MacDowell Colony, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Vermont Studio Center, the Celia & Wally Gilbert Artist-in-Residence Program, and was a recipient of 2 New York Foundation for the Arts Grants in Painting and Drawing, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, the and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Studio residency.
John has been in numerous exhibitions abroad, including The Lab (Ireland), Martin Asbaek Gallery (Denmark), Neue Berliner Raume (Germany), Rodolphe Janssen Gallery (Brussels), the Louhu District Art Museum (Shenzhen, China), TW Fine Art (Australia); and in the US at Andrea Rosen Gallery, Pierogi Gallery, Arkansas Arts Center, Weatherspoon Museum, Ronald Feldman Gallery, Marlborough Gallery, White Columns, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Baltimore, the Wellin Museum, the Queens Museum, and the Tang Museum.
His exhibitions have been reviewed in Bomb Magazine, The New York Times, Artforum, the Village Voice, Art Papers, the Brooklyn Rail, and Art in America, among others. John presented his work in discussion with Fred Tomaselli at The New Museum, and his work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Weatherspoon Museum, Hood Museum, Southern Methodist University, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.
A catalogue spanning 10 years of John’s work was published by Pierogi Gallery with essays by Robert Storr, John Yau, and Rick Moody. He teaches and co-chairs the Visual Arts program at Sarah Lawrence College.
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Published on the occasion of the exhibition
Sim Buhls
4 February - 23 March, 2023
Essay © 2023 Sasha Helinski
Designed by Darvin Villavicencio
Printed in Illinois, Chicago
Photographs by Gregory Staley
Cover: Conspiracy: Faker Sent INN (detail), 2019 © John O'Connor
We would like to thank Sasha Helinski for the contribution of her insightful essay. We are especially grateful to Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, Pierogi Gallery, John Evans Estate, Holly O. Stringcheese, John O’Connor, and Michael Abrams for their unwavering support in the production of this exhibition.
Pazo Fine Art
4228 Howard Ave Kesington, Maryland 20895 info@pazofineart.com www.pazofineart.com
© 2023 Pazo Fine Art
All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical, or otherwise, without first seeking the permission of the copyright owners and publishers. Every e ort has been made this seek permission to reproduce the images in this catalogue. Any omissions are entirely unintentional, and details should be addressed to the publishers.
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