Incollect Magazine - Issue 6

Incollect Magazine 39 Skyline Series table base, 1970. 44 hand-welded sections with gilded and polychrome enamels. From TFTM on Incollect. combine irregular, vertical and horizontal welded sections of reflective silver with opaque black aluminum, frequently decorated with pictographic drawings. The craftsmanship of the Argente series is breathtaking — each piece is like a jewel, an exquisite work of art. “Since the turn of the 21st century, a fresh look at Evans’ extraordinary legacy has created a new appreciation and a thriving market fueled by a passionate group of fervent collectors,” says Dallas Dunn, gallery director at the Todd Merrill Studio in New York where, in 2020, she helped organize an exhibition of custom Argente works. In 2017, Todd Merrill Studio sold Evans’ first forged steel and sculpted bronze disc bar, from 1968, for a then-record price of $200,000. Ken Bolan from Ken Bolan Studio in London bought his first Evans piece in 2006 and has bought, sold, and even lived with them ever since — today, in his London home, he has a sculpted bronze Evans wall console and a matching mirror, and in his previous apartment, he had an Argente collection wall console. “I view his pieces as sculptures and that is what I find exciting about him as a designer. Anybody looking to create their aesthetic with artistic furniture would have to look at Evans, as he hits both ends of the spectrum with functional furniture blended with sculpture.” Nicole and Ryan Hobbs from Hobbs Modern in San Diego agree with Bolan, pointing out that this very juxtaposition between design and sculpture is what makes Evans and his pieces so unique but also alluring and compelling. “He smashes the boundaries that define art, sculpture, and furniture, eliciting debates between collectors, admirers, and peers as to whether his pieces are good or bad, or are ugly or beautiful,” said the dealer couple. “Conversation always elicits an appreciation for his work and why we at Hobbs Modern always look for his pieces. We love designs that bring about conversation and Evans' work does just that — it is functional art.” Nicole and Ryan Hobbs see Evans as a precursor of much high-end artistic studio furniture on the market today. Nina Malka from Maison Rapin in Paris agrees. “His combination of tradition and modernity is still alive today in the work of many artists who promote and use ancient craftsmanship to create new aesthetics,” she says and points out that Evans’ pieces are more sought after today than during his lifetime. Evans is an anomaly, a unique, thorny figure in the history of design. That was his genius and in a strange twist of fate, perhaps his greatest and most enduring legacy. He pointed the way forward for designers to be artists by an appreciation, in one final paradox, of the virtuosity and craftsmanship of the past.