"A while back I worked for Lower Fort Garry which was an old Hudson Bay Company Fort between Winnipeg and Selkirk. It was a summer job where I was a historical interpreter. I had to dress up like it was in the 1850s and pretend that I lived in that era which is in a way ridiculous. It is this history or fiction that we were trying to portray to people and that got me thinking a lot about my own family and our history. The history that actually exists and the history that we portray along with the official government influence. The complicated mixing pot of history and identity; what’s real and isn’t. What voices are heard, what is given as a standard, and what voices are suppressed. It's forever enduring and it continues today." --Evin Collis
Evin Collis' work over the years thinks a lot about the complexities of the Canadian landscape as degraded and cross-examines the theatrical romantic mythologies surrounding it. But that’s just a quick sentence that barely breaks the surface of Collis’ work. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Collis is very aware of his identity and family history as it relates to the city and this comes through in his work. Collis recently completed his graduate studies at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and being in Chicago over the last recent years has allowed him to find expanded parallels with his work across a landscape like Chicago's. Being there has also allowed his previously predominately painting and sculpture practice to reach into stop motion animation which has opened up for new possibilities for how he thinks through his work. We were lucky to catch sometime with Collis when he was in town to talk about his work, how he feels now that he’s completed his formal studies, his new upcoming comic book project and his earliest memories of being creative—among other thing talking points.
Manitoba Interior (2015). Oil on canvas. 72 x 72.
Luther Konadu. You’ve been making paintings for the longest time now you are bringing the work into stop motion animation in a more full-handedly way ?
Evin Collis. Yes, I’ve gotten more into it and I'm experimenting more. While in Chicago, I had great access to resources I wouldn’t have had on my own. I had the opportunity to play around, fail and try different things with it. It is still a work in-progress though, I’m still learning lots and figuring out how to create the animations I want to make.
Danielle Fenn. Did you make all of those little guys? (referencing the latest animation "Prizzly")
E. Yes, I made everything. It’s all handmade.
Stills from Prizzly (in-progress stop motion animation project)
D. Is that clay?
E. It’s a combination of things. Parts of the puppets are made from Sculpey, aluminum wire, foam, and all kinds of mixed materials.
D. It looks very Winnipeg
E. Yeah, but I also think of them being anywhere in Manitoba or Northern Ontario.
L. What do you find the stop motion work is “doing” that the paintings and sculpture work couldn’t “do” in your work like how it is able to present your ideas?
E. Stop-motion animation has allowed me to tell stories through a separate means of production. It involves all the facets of making I love, drawing, painting, sculpting, building, collage and storytelling. I think my animations have a certain painterly quality to them. My roots are in drawing and painting but the complexities of animation brings the characters and their world to life in a particularly fascinating way. It's another means of playing with the theatricality of it all.
L. How long did it take you between getting your undergrad and starting off your MFA and what did you do in between then?
E. After my undergrad, I returned to Winnipeg and got a job with Via Rail as a porter, so I did that for about four years. While working onboard the trains with VIA I had a studio at the old Ross building was there for about three years. I was traveling lots during the summers between Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Churchill and in between that I was making work.
Throughout my experiences on the railroad, it got me thinking a lot about the communities around it and the degraded landscape in Canada. There is this mythology about Canada and its landscape and the romance of it but a lot of it like Lake Winnipeg—is totally diseased.
"I am very much aware history paintings have been completely untrendy and it’s part of the appreciation I have for it."
Kelly Campbell. The empty Canadian landscape is definitely a colonial fantasy.
E. Oh yes, it very much is. There’s a lot of available literature that speaks to that. The Group of Seven did make some beautiful paintings but ultimately it's about territory and control. I find it interesting to contrast the theatrical romanticized landscapes with the real, ugly, post industrial landscapes and finding an existing romance there, like in Sudbury—which is where my father is originally from—a lot of the land and the lakes were poisoned from the nickel mining but finding the beauty amongst the slag.
D. I notice in your video there was a lot of drinking and what look like the decay of the body and as well as the land
E. The body in distress is something I think about frequently. Having lived in Winnipeg for some time, you can identify with how intense the winters can be. In many ways it's good for making art, you can isolate yourself indoors and get a lot done but there’s a darkness that can come out of that and people have different ways of coping. And there is a running theme of distress, intoxication and poisoning be it the body or the land. There is an internal and external corruption and a pathos to the work.
Winter Night (2015). Oil on canvas. 84 x 84.
L. So it’s something that you looked more into during your graduate studies at saic?
E. It’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about for a long while. Being in graduate school allowed me focus on what I was interested in and work with an incredible group of people, expand my community and my network. It gave me the opportunity to hone down some of the formalities and techniques of stop motion animation. Before that, I was entirely self-taught with it, so being there, gave me a bit more of a foundation. With the painting, I got to learn even more about the materials I was using, I got learn about how to make my own paints. I started painting with egg tempera—which is a fantastic medium.
"Chicago is an incredibly segregated city. Winnipeg is not entirely different."
L. Having lived in Toronto for a number of years and in Chicago, how would you compare the art scenes in both cities?
E. Well, in my experience, Chicago was very welcoming and unpretentious. It is a very supportive city. Toronto and Chicago are both great, dynamic cities with strong arts cultures nested on the Great Lakes. I see Chicago and Winnipeg having many parallels. They are both Midwest cities, have cold winters and a strong working class background. There is grittiness to both cities and the art scene reflects that as well. Chicago has its own thing going and doesn’t really look towards New York City the way another city might. It has its own proud history.
D. It has a lot of proud history and great art scene but also a shaken history as well.
E. Yes, totally. And I don’t think Winnipeg is any different or most cities for that matter. Chicago is an incredibly segregated city. Winnipeg is not entirely different.
L. I was just thinking about how your work is very much informed by “Canada” and how the work is going to stand with you working out of the country and in a different city. But now that you are making these comparisons with Winnipeg and Chicago, I guess I can see how the work can keep taking form.
E. Yes, being there helped me realize the many parallels between the two cities. I feel like Winnipeg has more in common with Chicago in some respects than Toronto. Something about the history, geography, being a city that is often overlooked and misrepresented creates a climate of art making that is more akin to what goes on here in Winnipeg.
Photo Contribution by Wale Owulade
On the 8 x 10 foot paintings and were made between 2012-2013:
E. That was the first time I worked that large and I really enjoyed it. I love history painting, looking at the old masters, examining the compositions, and the classical allegories referenced. My series 'Rupertsland Ruckus' is a version of ‘new Manitoba satirical history paintings'. I’m essentially extrapolating from a lot of different references including our local histories but also playing off and mocking the whole model of the European history paintings.
Assiniboine Odyssey (2012) (photo credit C. Venzon)
L. The images you end up with in your paintings has this fascinating mix of surreal invention and direct references to specific pre-existing motifs
E. Yes, I do take from art history and religious painting and then subvert it. A while back I worked for Lower Fort Garry which was an old Hudson Bay Company Fort between Winnipeg and Selkirk. It was a summer job where I was a historical interpreter. I had to dress up like it was in the 1850s and pretend that I lived in that era which is in a way ridiculous. It is this history or fiction that we were trying to portray to people and that got me thinking a lot about my own family and our history. The history that actually exists and the history that we portray along with the official government influence. The complicated mixing pot of history and identity; what’s real and isn’t. What voices are heard, what is given as a standard, and what voices are suppressed. It's forever enduring and it continues today. Much of the imagery was sourced from my days working at the Fort. In Assiniboine Odyssey a motley cast of characters are all drifting inside a York Boat of sorts and pass by overgrown riverbanks with the Manitoba Legislature in the background. The title is a direct reference to Homer's Odyssey. The Golden Boy has been decapitated and his head sits in the mud next to the hydra goose. The river is red and full of trash and nature is somewhat reclaiming the toxic landscape in a sense. So I have been re-appropriating icons and loaded symbolisms to create these weird local history paintings that poke fun but are also dark and serious.
"I’m interested in the function and the history of the train and railroad in Canada. It's what essentially secured much of the land for what is now Canada. It was an instrument of colonization and we are still using the same original routes even today for moving people and freight."
L. How do you think your history paintings function in contemporary art today?
E. I am very much aware history paintings have been completely untrendy and it’s part of the appreciation I have for it. Kerry James Marshall has been creating history paintings and I really admire his work and I’ve been looking at them for a long time. Leon Golub is another original Chicago painter who had painted these dictators and military torture scenes which are done on an epic grand scale. I find that the scale is enticing because the monumentalism demands some kind of attention. It's massive but it could be subverted, or it could be a stage to claim your own take on history. There are different possibilities the monumental scale can achieve.
2015. Hydra Goose, wood, steel, plaster, feathers, glue and mixed media (photo credit C. Venzon)
On The Hydra goose paintings/sculpture:
E. First I made a painting of a multi-headed goose and then I later built a sculpture of it. It’s a melding of different things. It has a lot to do with this dystopic North American landscape; its polluted beyond return and still fantastical at the same time. With these history paintings; there are many things I want them to function as such. The Hydra goose is coming from Greek mythology but it's a Canada goose. Canadian geese can be very nasty, they shit all over the place, they are awkward in a sense yet very strong, adaptable and noble.
Photo Contribution by Wale Owulade
On The presence and ideas of the train and the railroad in the work:
E. I’m interested in the function and the history of the train and railroad in Canada. It's what essentially secured much of the land for what is now Canada. It was an instrument of colonization and we are still using the same original routes even today for moving people and freight. I’m interested in the industrialization of the landscape and the often ensuing degraded landscapes with what gets left behind. The body of work I’m currently working on now deals more with perspective and views of and from the train. I’m excited because it allows me to play around with different genres about paintings like landscape, still life, portraiture and history paintings all in one.
Railyard Resurrection (2013). Part of Commerce, Prudence, Industry Installation at TRUCK, Calgary, Alberta
L. Painting as a medium and its loaded history of representation and the power it had absorbed since its existence is part reason why it’s more than appropriate that you use it for talking through your ideas...and I’m wondering do you think using other mediums like the stop motion help augments the work or help you talk about the ideas behind the work....
E. Both are true. I love painting and the stop-motion animation is just another means to continue experimenting and exploring with various mediums and storytelling while probably reaching a larger audience. Also, there is an accessibility with the animation which I appreciate. It can be played in a cinema or off the internet and can be experienced on that level where as the paintings should be experienced in the flesh to fully appreciate the work. I enjoy going to galleries and museums and I like the experience of watching films however they may be accessible.
Photo Contribution by Wale Owulade
L. When you are showing your work in Winnipeg you probably get people saying that the work looks “very winnipeg”....do you think there is a Winnipeg aesthetic?
E.I am not sure if there is a single "Winnipeg aesthetic", but I suppose much of what I make comes from my experiences, interests and intuition.
L. But I’m guessing if that same work is being shown in say Chicago most people wouldn’t say it looks Winnipeg...how did people respond to the work there...what do they relate it to?
E. True. Some think it has a very Canadian feel but often some could recognize say the urban winter scenes as a Chicago or the landscapes as the Northern Mid-West. The work doesn't need to be wholly specific.
L. What do you find the stop motion work is “doing” that the paintings and sculpture work couldn’t “do” in your work like how it is able to present your ideas?
E. Stop-motion animation has allowed me to tell stories through a separate means of production. It involves all the facets of making I love, drawing, painting, sculpting, building, collage and storytelling. I think my animations have a certain painterly quality to them. My roots are in drawing and painting but the complexities of animation brings the characters and their world to life in a particularly fascinating way. It's another means of playing with the theatricality of it all.
L. Talk a bit about your graphic novel that you’ve been working on...
E. For the past 5 years, off and on my friend Jamie Michaels and I have been collaborating on a graphic novel about a actual voyage he and a few other of our childhood friends completed in 2010. They canoed from Winnipeg to Mexico. It's a weirdo, coming of age, man-child story of a few ill-prepared hosers in a canoe traversing the continent and stumbling into all sorts of debauchery and adventure. The book is entitled Canoe Boys and book 1 is being released shortly and is currently being crowd sourced to fundraise for the printing costs.
Canoe Boys
L. What’s an early memory of making something you would now look back as being creative?
E. I remember drawing on walls in my family’s home. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing. There was a significant period in my childhood where my family didn’t have a television so l would always make up stories in my head and draw them out on paper. It was a way of entertaining myself.
L. Are there any family members you would consider creative?
E. My siblings are very musically talented. My brother studied music and my sister is a musician and makes visual art as well. We are fortunate, our family has always embraced the arts and encouraged us to be creative.
Special Thanks to Wale Owulade for his photo contribution.