Evi O
Sydney-based multi-discipinary designer and self-taught artist Evi O explores the colours of life through her bold and brave abstract art.
Photography: Daniel Shipp, Andrew Grune & Nicholas Watt
‘If my audience can have their own takeaway from enjoying my artworks, then that’s probably the most ideal scenario for me as an artist’, says Evi O. Photo: Andrew Grune. First Hero Image: Nicholas Watt
A Monument to Honour by Evi O. Photo: Daniel Shipp
H&F: Hi Evi, tell us a little bit about your journey as an artist, how did you land on abstract painting?
Evi O: Back when I was working as a young book designer for Penguin Books Australia – one of the daily gigs include creating drawings/artworks in a variety of figurative styles to be used on illustrated titles, from cookery to interiors. Even thought I created zero art masterpieces, those years loosened me up in that I got to experiment with different materials, from watercolours to linocuts, and train my eye on composition. During one of my weekend tinkering sessions, I picked up acrylic paints as I wanted to get good at colour combinations, and initially using landscape shots from travel days, I turned them into abstract pieces, and fell in love with the basic foundation of abstract art – pushing the ways of interpreting things, may it be an object or a feeling. Curator Amber Creswell Bell saw some of these early works on Instagram and got me going on a group exhibition, and a few exhibitions later, I guess I got much better at making my own evocative shapes and colour combinations. These days, I stem my works on inkling intuitions and a dive deep on a topic I want to dissect and discuss. Abstract art is the perfect vessel to house all these, well, sometimes abstract things!
What’s your greatest influence?
For me, it’s always been whatever is happening in my life, and that often involves old and new people, local or faraway locations, nature and the man-made worlds, an idea, a discussion, a question. I very selfishly use my art practice as a way of making sense of the world I live in. I tend to respond to what curiosity I have at the time while I build a collection.
What is it about abstract art that appeals so much to you?
Its ability to be interactive is perhaps what I love about it the most. I mean that even thought it starts with an idea of mine that I’ve put into an abstract form, when the audience view it, they might have a different idea or interpretation, and for this reason I love to connect with my peers during exhibitions, to understand how my art is perceived and what effect it has on them. Very happily I could report that my audience often feel joy when interacting with my art, which is an important base to my art practice. It’s pure, honest, and full of positivity!
“For me, my art practice is the safest space, so I can really bare all with hopes, fears, and all kinds of things. I truly believe the audience can feel it if an artist is holding back.”
The Viper Hibernates Under the Autumn Bush by Evi O. Photo: Daniel Shipp
7AM with Two Debonair Hounds by Evi O. Photo: Daniel Shipp
The Evening Starts with a Pair of Cocktails with Cherries on Top by Evi O. Photo: Daniel Shipp
Holiday with the Squid by Evi O. Photo: Daniel Shipp
What does a typical day at the studio look like?
If it’s not a dog-walking morning with my whippet Henri, I usually come in really early around 7am, either with a cup of coffee in tow or if not I’ll make a nice tea and get 2 hours of paintings happening in the Chroma Cave downstairs. Depending on how demanding a day is, around 9am I move upstairs to The Yellow Office – the design studio has lots of yellowish timber walls, it’s a bit cabin-like – and usually some of my team of 7 would be there already, and sometimes not. We run a free-form office situation since Covid, and we made a call on giving everyone freedom to work from anywhere (thanks for the push, Covid!), and this means everyday is a surprise in terms of who’s in the building.
We probably would debrief on fun life stuff before getting into the day to day. Mondays are meeting days for me, and sometimes it spills to Friday and Tuesday – Thursdays are spent doing creative stuff – whether it’s art or design. The team is big on food, so lunch or snacks conversation is an always present topic. Music ranges from new pop to old trance, depending who’s on the DJ front. A normal work day tends to go very, very fast for us and before you know it, it will be home time. We’re big on work life balance in the studio so very rarely we stay late.
A day or two or three in a week, I’ll go have dinner with friends before heading home to Andrew and Henri – boyfriend and whippet.
How do you think living in Redfern influences your work?
I live in Redfern and the studio is in Marrickville and I guess if there are direct influences, it would be the diverse variety of people that roam around these two suburbs. Not saying that it has all the spectrum of genre, but I feel that both suburbs are meeting points of a lot of things – artisan and industrial businesses, producers of all kinds, artists and creatives, the youngs and the wise, I guess the polarising contrast often triggers curiosity in who you choose to seek.
What else are you interested in exploring?
That maybe I don’t mind having my own room when working? I used to struggle with solitary (maybe still am) and working on my own used to take me to an uninspiring, sad place, but during lockdown I was forced to work in the design office by myself and by lockdown number two, I found this really focused state within me, which when I think about it, exists when I paint on my own in the art studio.
Do you embrace vulnerability in your artwork or do you hold back?
Always! For me, my art practice is the safest space, so I can really bare all with hopes, fears, and all kinds of things. I truly believe the audience can feel it if an artist is holding back. And why hold back? YOLO.
What do you wish to evoke in your audience when looking at your paintings?
Positivity, hope and joy on the first layer, and then if they want to delve deeper, then the topic that I’m exploring often throws a question, not a resolution. And perhaps the deepest layer would be to invoke their own curiosity. If they can have their own takeaway from enjoying my artworks, then that’s probably the most ideal scenario for me as an artist.
What does the rest of the year look like for you, anything exciting upcoming?
I’m terrified and probably more excited to say that 2022 has a lot in store for me. The design studio is putting out the best projects yet, ranging from books, objects and brands. On the art front, I have a few Sydney and Melbourne exhibitions planned, a show in the Big Apple with a new gallery, and two very, very exciting brand collaborations. And of course, more adventure books! Wish me luck!
