Jim Evans (artist): Difference between revisions
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* [http://www.decontrol.com/index_redirect.html?taz D+CONtrol Online Art Gallery: Taz] |
* [http://www.decontrol.com/index_redirect.html?taz D+CONtrol Online Art Gallery: Taz] |
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* [http://www.beastiemania.com/interview/interviewtaz.php Beastiemania.com - Interviews T.A.Z.] |
* [http://www.beastiemania.com/interview/interviewtaz.php Beastiemania.com - Interviews T.A.Z.] |
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* [http://lambiek.net/artists/e/evans_jim.htm] |
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Revision as of 01:44, 21 December 2009
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Jim Evans | |
|---|---|
| File:JimEvansTazEra.jpg Evans in 1994 | |
| Born | Jim Evans |
| Nationality | American (United States) |
| Education | Art Center College of Design, Cal Arts |
| Known for | Painting, Cinema, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Web Design |
| Movement | Poster Art, Underground Comics), |
Jim Evans Born sometime in the 1950s, sometimes known as T.A.Z., is an American painter, printmaker, and Creative Director who was a contributing figure in the visual art movement known as underground comics. After a successful career as a comic illustrator, Jim Evans became known for his work as a painter, poster maker, and owner of the digital design group, Division 13.
Biography
Evans was born in San Diego amidst the surfing culture of southern California. After attending high school, he played in several local bands and then created comic strips for the LA Free Press and other Underground papers by Ron Cobb’s Sawyer Press. Evans' then began to take commissions doing work in several comic books.[1] These included the Yellow Dog, and a solo effort titled The Dying Dolphin that was released by San Francisco based Print Mint doing collaborations with Rick Griffin and Ron Cobb.
The Underground period was followed by a move to the North Shore of Oahu, and contributions to both Surfer and Surfing magazine, as well as illustrating a succession of Surfing posters, such as Hal Jepson’s A Sea For Yourself, and the posters for Bud Browne’s successful Going Surfin’ series.[2] He did posters for many Australian surf films like On Any Morning, and A Winters Tale. During this period, he also did posters for Oahu’s infamous Crater Celebration, featuring bands like Santana and Little Feat. Some of the time in Hawaii was spent doing commercial and advertising art for ad agencies, including ads and record sleeves for Don Ho and the Allihi’s, and The Society of Seven.
Returning to the mainland, Evans began to do record sleeves and continued his relationship with Surfer and Surfing magazines, doing numerous illustrations[3] for both, including a collaboration with surfer Mike Doyle on a series of ads for Wax Research. Evans also contributed regularly to Skateboarder and Powder magazines.[4] Working with Dean Torrance of Jan & Dean fame, he did the art for their revival album, Dead Man’s Curve, and a compilation of Jan & Dean and Beach Boys hits called Golden Summer.[5] In collaboration with Dean, Evans also did the art for the Beach Boys albums 15 Big Ones, and Live in London. At the same time, he created a logo for The Beach Boys that is still used. This, in turn, led to the commission to create a logo for the band Chicago. His list of album jackets includes; Alice Coltrane, The Robby Kreiger Band, The Allman Brothers, Neil Young, The Marshall Tucker Band, Jimmy Rabbit, Waylon Jennings, and other bands like Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids.
In addition to the record sleeves and ongoing work with the surfing magazines, Evans became a contributor to the newly formed Skateboarder Magazine, handling all of the illustration work for the first four issues. Jim did a series of ads for Cadillac Wheels, the first polyurethane skateboard wheel. Other skate commissions included one for Stacy Peralta, for an early skate film titled Freestylin’.
The period of record sleeves and skate posters ran parallel to commissions for a number of film posters.[6] Working for most of the major studios, Jim completed art for the Lumiere, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Kentucky Fried Movie, Big Wednesday, Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps (for which Jim also animated the opening title sequence), and John Carpenter’s first film Dark Star. Numerous books began to appear at this time and his work is included in the History of Rock Art, Phonographics, Roger Dean’s Album Art Book, and The History of Underground Comics.[7]
An interest in film led to work as an Art Director, set decorator, and storyboard artist for films. Evans worked on Killer’s Kiss and Growing Pains. He also helped to prepare an American release for a series of Japanese films called The Baby Cart Series. Jim’s son Gibran did the film’s voiceover, it was released in 1980, and titled Shogun Assassin, with a poster done by Evans.
An association with Playboy led to a series of silkscreen portraits of celebrities, the magazine commissioned Evans to do portraits of Sean Connery, David Letterman, Joe Montana, and Marilyn Monroe. These portraits led to art shows in Chicago and New York, in addition to a large scale show at the Hansen Gallery Rodeo Drive location, where he did portraits of Sly Stallone, Madonna, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Billy Idol, Steve Vai, Bob Dylan, and Robert Mitchum. Later a show of feminist icons, done in collaboration with pop artist Richard Duardo, had a successful run at the Zero One gallery in Los Angeles.
In the late 80’s led Evans turned his attention back to rock music. Agreeing to do a poster for Nirvana and L7 for a Rock for Choice benefit, he created a new moniker, T.A.Z.[8] The name was inspired by Hakim Bey’s anarchist handbook titled The Temporary Autonomous Zone, This began collaboration with Jim, Gibran Evans and silkscreen artist Rolo Castillo. To date they have created 190 silkscreen limited edition rock posters for bands such as U2, Jane’s Addiction,Oasis, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, and The Beastie Boys. As a group, T.A.Z. has completed commissions for numerous CD covers. These include the groups the Beastie Boys, Beck, Aerosmith, Face to Face, House of Pain, The Voodoo Glow Skulls, Slayer, Luscious Jackson, and Orange 9mm. The creation of T.A.Z. led to Jim’s association with the Lollapalooza festival. In 1994, he was commissioned by Marc Geiger and Perry Farrell to decorate the festival.[9]
The move into electronic media led to the founding of The Big Gun Project. The Big Gun Project was conceived as a loosely organized artistic electronic commune made up of artists, designers, writers, and computer programmers. The Big Gun Project was responsible for creating early websites as The Crash Site, FilmZone, and Salvo. The Big Gun Project work for hire initiatives led to the completion of several web sites for major motion pictures. Among them, Men in Black, Tomorrow Never Dies, Seven, Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx, The Mummy, The Big Lebowski, and Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, which was done in collaboration with the film director Terry Gilliam. On the music side, the Big Gun Project built web sites for The Beastie Boys, The Ozzfest, Grand Royal Records, and The Tibetan Freedom Concert.
In the late 90’s Evans worked as the Executive Creative Director for Al Teller’s online label Atomic Pop. He was in charge of interface design, content creation, web site development for artists signed to the label, and interactive game design. While at Atomic Pop he created sites for Public Enemy, Ice-T, The Black Eyed Peas, and Smashing Pumpkins.
Jim is currently the Executive Creative Director of Division 13 Design Group, a web-based design firm specializing in the collaboration of art and technology with recent clients like Sony Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, Lionsgate, Fox, Universal, and Paramount, he does web sites and viral campaigns for films like, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Hellboy, Shrek, Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Fathers, the SAW series, and recently, Ice Age 3 and Monsters vs Aliens.
Works
Websites
- Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
- Shorts
- How To Train Your Dragon
- Monsters Vs. Aliens
- Kung Fu Panda
- Saw I, II, II, V
- Hellboy II
- Mirrors
- The Bank Job
- Shine A Light
- Dreamworks Animation
- Shrek
- The Hills Have Eyes 2
- Dreamgirls
- Away From Her
- The U.S. Vs John Lennon
- Lord of War
- Over The Hedge
- The Devil's Rejects
- Employee of the Month
- State of the Union
- The Ring 1, 2
- Zwan
- Smashing Pumpkins
- Sahara
- Madagascar
- Catch Me If You Can
Music Posters
- Pavement
- Beck
- Melvins
- Rage Against The Machine
- Smashing Pumokins
- Sebadoh
- Lollapalooza
- 311
- Save Ferris
- Tibetan Freedom Concert
- Zwan
- Pearl Jam
- NOFX
- Squirrel Nut Zippers
- The Offspring
- Reel Big Fish
- Beastie Boys
- Green Day
- L7
Album Art
- Rust Never Sleeps, Neil Young
- Live Rust, Neil Young,
- Sabotage, Beastie Boys
- 15 Big Ones, The Beach Boys
- Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas - The Allman Bros.
- Live In London, The Beach Boys
- Robby Kreiger & Friends, Robby Kreiger
References
- ^ Estren, Mark. A History of Underground Comics. Ronin Publishing. ISBN 978-0914171119.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Warshaw, Matt. Surf Movie Tonite!: Surf Movie Poster Art, 1957-2004. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0811848732.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Weyland, Jocko. "The Answer Is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World". Retrieved 2009-12-21.
- ^ Weyland, Jocko. The Answer Is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0802139450.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Benedict, Brad. Phonographics: Contemporary Album Cover Art & Design. Collier Books. ISBN 978-0020001003.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "ALCAPULCO GOLD". garlic.com. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
- ^ Dean, Roger. Album Cover Album. Collins Design. ISBN 978-0061626951.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ The Art of Rock Posters from Presley to Punk. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0789206114.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help);|first=missing|last=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Grushkin, Paul D. Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0811845298.
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