Art is for Sharing with Urban Artist Evereman
You may have seen it gracing Atlanta’s warehouse facades, stuck to flagpoles and auto bumpers, stenciled on a wooden block in someone’s palm — the angular, robotic face, the trademark of Atlanta urban artist Evereman.
Recently, I had an opportunity to sit down with Evereman and talk about his art form and other artistic transactions.
Unlike the stark face of his signature alias, Evereman’s expression was soft and open as he explained why his art is important both to him and the community. Listening to Evereman describe the history and trajectory of his art evokes a refreshing simplicity. As Evereman’s biographical sketch on streetela.com describes:
Born In NC. Wrote Poetry. Moved to Atlanta to seek FAME and Fortune. Cut stencils of poems and spray-painted them on the streets. Began Billboard manipulations and street installations. Self published book of poetry. Opened Atlanta’s first “roll em in front of you” Burrito joint, which became a gathering place for Artists and Musicians. Married. Became a father. Began making furniture. Pinned a drawing (which had been used as a pattern to carve the face of a small sculpture) on shop wall. After studying the drawing several months, realized it would make a nice stencil. Began cutting stencils, painting EVEREMAN and placing it around Atlanta. [sic]
Evereman designs items such as wooden blocks or magnets with his signature robot face stencil and distributes them around Atlanta. Each item is imprinted with the date and “4U” denoting that his art is for public consumption beyond traditional visual consumption. Evereman states, “I am able to have these communications and contact with people, randomly somehow, and for the most part have a positive effect.”
The walls of Evereman’s home are adorned with other local artists’ work, and his custom crafted furniture is proudly displayed. In his studio we looked at the original drawing for the robot face that is the most recognizable Evereman image. It still hangs from the shop wall as an homage to the Evereman impetus.
We see the small scale furniture models that he developed to launch a DIY furniture building kit. Each kit would come with raw materials and instructions for building the piece yourself. Evereman describes a certain ownership that prides a furniture crafter. His furniture kits would allow others to build a quality functional item.
We see his newest creation, the “crackhead.” This prototype is similar to the wooden block with the robot face but with a crack slicing through the 3D object. These crack derive from the wood’s close proximity to the pith, or core of what was once a tree. When other wood carvers and crafters see waste material, Evereman breathes life into these discarded scraps.
But before the name Evereman, the robot face and all the crafted chairs and tables, it seems there was an exact moment of epiphany — a would-be artist’s aha moment. This minute in time would be when Evereman looked at the now iconic 1946 Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chair and saw art. That chair was designed after the bended plywood medical casts of World War II. For Evereman it meant that function can be an aesthetic art. Skip ahead many years, and now we are at the cusp of Evereman art as a geospatial commodity.
“I think about what I do as art for all, in terms of doing this artwork and placing it in the environment. It’s street art. That’s where art for all exists. These pieces… nearly 100% are in place with magnets or gravity, they are there to be taken,” says Evereman describing how his art is becoming a social experiment.
However, Evereman’s art is not the only form to interact directly with the public. Catlanta, another Atlanta art movement, encourages people to take and trade colored cardboard cats from various Catlanta boxes around the city.
“The point is about giving as opposed to taking. It’s very much in the sense of cooperating as opposed to competing. It just seems like fun,” says Evereman about his art. And Atlanta thinks so too.
See Evereman art in action at Streetela’s exhibition and launch party on April 9, 2011 from 8-11:30 p.m. at 900 Dekalb Ave.
Until then, whet your appetite here: www.evereman.com
Photo Credit: Tim Song