An artist and graphic designer who has become known largely through the skateboarding subculture, Evan Hecox has produced hundreds of skateboard graphics since 1997. He has also emerged as a fine artist, with solo and group shows around the world. His works depict city scenes or isolated elements that are almost cinematic in their stark contrast and abstraction. Hecox is fascinated with the complexity of the urban landscape, and with people from mundane surroundings that one would normally overlook. His stylistic approach is based on the process of amplification as it affects form and color, breaking down the image, removing elements and emphasizing others. His first monograph is an extensive catalog of his paintings, drawings, and installation photographs, dating back as early as 1994. The handmade quality of Hecox's work resonates in the 32 pages dedicated to his linoleum block prints, which are reproduced as if they were painted by the artist himself.
Hecox has fostered a massive following through his street art, skateboarding, and gallery art alike. His clean and crisp illustration style is equal parts draftsman artwork, comic work, California pop art, and, of course, Hecox's own unique, unplaceably alluring and intriguing vibe. There's a simple, refined beauty to all his work, and Urban Abstract is just the newest testament to that fact.
Matthew Thompson, Assistant Curator at the Aspen Art Museum, contextualizes the work in an essay while the viewer takes an in-depth look at the artist’Äôs studio through the photographs of Misty Keasler. The book was designed by Brian Gibb. Hardcover, full color, fat book.