Even as a youth, Colorado Pop Artist, Evan Colbert was inspired by the bright colors, shapes, designs and messages of commercial signage and corporate logos that caught his attention, while he was growing up in Seattle. He was entranced by the huge globes he saw on the “76” gas station logos, which appeared to him as, “...towering like giant spinning orange lollipops along the roadways of Seattle.” He also liked the, “...big glowing red “R” on the Ranier Beer factory,” a long remembered landmark there.

The 7-Eleven down the street from his home also influenced Evan’s early creative ambitions to follow in the footsteps of another pop artist, Andy Warhol. He was fascinated by, “ ...things like fantastically tinted Slurpees, arrays of fruit flavored candies in multi-colored plastic packages, and the eye-catching graphics on video games, comic books and other packaged consumer products.” The big bright color schemes of commercial enterprise exteriors and interiors also drew Evan’s attention.

He commented, “It’s the stuff that lurks just out of sight - in our pockets, garages, refrigerators, on television, in dumpsters, and in landfills,” that provide him with a intriguing array of subject matter to explore and satirize in his own special style. And he does it all with house paint, spray paint, glass beads, glue, handcut stencils, "... and anything else that doesn't require a trip to the art supply store."

With a concerned social conscience, Evan views today’s crass commercialism as, “...crap culture that creeps abundantly across our land and forces us to pay more for less.” He further laments, “This Kulture inserts its negative DNA into our collective sub-consciousness and slaps us in the face with a contaminated glove.” He further moralizes, “It is invasive, pervasive, insidious, pernicious, idiotic and morally parched infotainment.” He expresses all this fascination and discontent with society’s materialism through his paintings.

Evan refined his keen sense of observation, when he studied photography at Colorado Mountain College, the University of Colorado in Denver, and at the Community College of Denver. He later received a BFA from Metropolitan State College of Denver, with a major in print making, specializing in lithography.

Evan began showing his work fresh out of college in various cooperative galleries around Denver, including the PirateGallery and ILK Gallery, of which he was a co-founding member. His work has also been exhibited in numerous other galleries in Colorado, including, The Art Students League of Denver, Exhibitrek in Boulder, the Old Firehouse Gallery in Longmont, the Plus Gallery in Denver, the Grand Junction Art Center, and the Arvada Center for Visual Arts. He has been featured in articles in The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News.

Evan may be contacted at:
720-275-1224

 

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