The Studio Collection Artist Spotlight - Evan Mann

"The work on the Surreal OtterBox cases are my imaginings of metaphysical spaces, the imagery depicts the manifestation of invisible worlds and phenomena beyond the limitations of our physical senses. My hope is for these spatial landscapes to act as imaginative nourishment that feed the mystery of reality."

---

Closed Caption:

My work is really about
exploring mystery, the unknown
I'm really interested in things that we
cannot see or pick up with our senses.
Those things that lie beyond
perception. Beyond visibility.
I think...material is a window into the immaterial.
And into the metaphysical and when we think
of intangible things we have to use normal materials to
help us grapple with those things.
Art making is a means for me
to act as an archaeologist
where I dig through material...
I dig through layers and
I process my own faith
my own place in the world. My working
and researching allows me
to become comfortable
with mysteries...
with death...
with love...with God. With life in general.
So I mad this piece called the acension.
And I'm dressed up in this white costume
and I'm climbing this rock.
And I've found that rock climbing is
a beautiful metaphor for a lot of the
themes in my work. Sort of this submission
to this much larger entity
that never changes.
White is a very common theme in my work.
It's full of mystery. It's a totality of color
in the light spectrum in the absence of color.
And the reflected spectrum.
white is everything and it's nothing.
I really appreciate the subtlety of
white. You just see the basic forms.
And I think my studio is a representation of that.
Usually when I begin a a piece, I don't
necessarily plan out the whole thing,
and then execute it.
I usually just start in the middle and I'll just start drawing and I'll go from there and it'll grow...
very organically.
And ink washes...
really are...
sort of of these spaces that I imagine exist somewhere beyond sight.
Some sort of metaphysical realm
that we cannot perceive with our five senses.
So my work is really about...
what is possible. What may exist.
What could exist. What might be.
I'm really honored to have my work...
on the back of the OtterBox cell phone cases.
I think it's a great opportunity.
It'll be a great joy for me to see someone using an OtterBox and see my image on the back. It's great that someone else can enjoy my work...
on a very tangible, every day-useful level.
And I think it's a cool opportunity, if you own an
OtterBox case with my image on it to shrug
your shoulders and say, "I don't
know it's a mystery."
I'm Evan Mann. Welcome to my studio