Based on a single photograph taking during his residency at the Banff Centre for Arts, Shawn Evans (Canadian, b. 1986) has been developing a distinct and highly nuanced series of paintings that engage with chronological time, grounded questions of representation, limits of perception, and the status of images in the contemporary world. The Quantum Sky series explores the Albertan landscape through iterative works across mediums. Evan’s recalls a rich tradition of landscape painting, yet through sustained engagement one realizes he has developed alongside a more contemplative and conceptual axis. This singular concern with the Canadian landscape marks a degree of rigorous discipline and adherence to self-imposed formal constraints. Now often building his compositions without reference to the original photograph, his practice has shifted from an act of perception to memory. In a way, Evans has progressively abandoned landscape painting. Although the work has maintained an objective sensibility, his constant recalibrations of colour and composition has allowed the formal qualities of painting to become his primary subject. Born in Regina, Saskatchwan, Evans moved to Calgary to complete his BFA at the Alberta College of Art and Design. His work is in the permanent collections of The Esker Foundation, The Bank of Montreal, and Air Canada Collection. Evans has recently completed several public installations, including San Francisco International Airport and Pearson International. Evans' ongoing Quantum Sky series is a nod to quantum computing, in which a problem exists in countless states before collapsing into a solution. Evans' first solo exhibition opens November 2026.
