van Penny is currently at the forefront of a movement of hyperrealist sculptors, including Ron Mueck and Richard Stipl. They are challenging the belief that it's a “contradiction to be a figurative sculptor and a contemporary artist”.

Born in South Africa in 1953 to missionary parents, Penny became a naturalized Canadian and studied fine art at the Alberta College of Art in Canada where he concentrated on the figure and steel constructivist sculpture. It was not until after supportive encouragement from the artist Anthony Caro that he had the confidence to commit to the unpopular territory of figurative sculpture.

Penny began working as a guest lecturer and taught sculpture at various universities in Canada and the United States from 1982 until 1999. In addition he worked making prosthetics, with the most up to date technology in the film industry, for films such as Adrian Lyne’s “Jacob’s Ladder” (1989), Oliver Stone’s “JFK” (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994) and “Nixon” (1995). He also worked on David Cronenberg’s “Existenz” (1999) .

Evan Penny untitled (anamorph #1) 2004 Silicone, Pigment, Hair, Aluminum 122 x 84 x 16 cm

Art Interview: What was it like for you growing up?

Evan Penny: I was born in South Africa. My father was a missionary doctor in Zimbabwe doing Third World medicine. We moved from Zimbabwe to the Northwest Territories in Canada when I was ten. We lived there a couple of years, then moved south to Edmonton, which is where I went to high school. Afterwards, I moved to southern Alberta and attended the Alberta College of Art and Design.

Art Interview: Why did you decide to study art?

Evan Penny: It was something I had an aptitude for. Other career options slowly drifted away and what came to the foreground was art.

Evan Penny Female Anamorph # 2 2006 Silicone, pigment, hair, aluminium, fabric 158 x 32 x 15 cm

Evan Penny: Yes, they always encouraged me. They could see that it was what really interested me. But they were concerned whether it was a viable professional choice.

Art Interview: Were they surprised when you became financially stable as an artist?

Evan Penny: I think so. One of the early validations was when they saw that I was capable of earning a living. I remember early on when I won a grant it was a big deal for them. They could see there was a system out there that supported the activity.

Art Interview: Which grant did you win?

Evan Penny: The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant for young artists.

Art Interview: Why did you choose the art school that you attended?

Evan Penny: Had I done better academically in high school I would have attended a university instead of a trade school like the Alberta College of Art. It’s now called the Alberta College of Art and Design and is one of the top four art schools in Canada.

Art Interview: You did your postgraduate degree there?

Evan Penny: Yes, it was an informal process but I did stay on an extra year as a graduate student.

Art Interview: Were there any professors there that influenced your work?

Evan Penny: Yes. It’s now a substantial institution, but at that time it was small and somewhat limited, and the sculpture department focused on traditional figure modeling, with minimal exposure to contemporary forms and sensibilities, but it suited me, and both my instructors, Katie Ohe and Ole Holmstein were highly supportive.

Evan Penny Norma 1979 - 1980 Resin, Pigment lifesize 180 cm

Evan Penny: It was fairly rudimentary. We did life modeling in clay and mold making, and learned to cast in various materials such as cement, wax, plaster and bronze. We also were exposed to metal constructivist ideas much influenced by the work of Anthony Caro.

Art Interview: At what point did you branch off into using silicone?

Evan Penny: Silicone came much later, with my career in the film industry. They have really only come into the scene within the last 10 to 15 years.

Art Interview: Did you have any role models that influenced your art making?

Evan Penny: There was one lecturer, Katie Ohe: she lived in a way students could emulate in her work ethic and commitment.

Art Interview: Was it your intention from the outset to be a professional artist?

Evan Penny: Yes.

Art Interview: How did you approach your first galleries?

Evan Penny: My initial success in approaching a gallery came from other artists referring me to a dealer.

Art Interview: Were you making life-sized figures at the time?

Evan Penny: My early figures were slightly less than life-size, probably in the scale of 3/4ths or 4/5ths. It took up to a year to generate one piece.

Art Interview: Did you feel that you were taking a great risk investing so much time in one piece?

Evan Penny: It was a source of anxiety; each piece was a slow learning process, and I didn’t have much history to fall back on. But, for some reason I had a strong instinct of what I needed to do and where to push it.

Art Interview: How has your process changed to allow you to produce more work?

Evan Penny Ali 1984 Resin, Pigment, Hair 4/5 lifesize 133 cm

Art Interview: Are you working from photography?

Evan Penny: I use photography as a reference. I have models as well, but not frequently. The work is still about observation but a direct observational process doesn’t bind it. Over time you become faster and more assured; you make fewer mistakes. A lot of my early process involved redoing things. I don’t have as many of those problems anymore. I also learned that part of the creative process could be played out in the mold making. Out of one mould I can generate multiple pieces that go their own way; and can generate more diversity through a series of works.

Art Interview: What gallery first represented you?

Evan Penny: I had a couple of brief relationships with small galleries in the beginning, but my first significant gallery was the Wynick/Tuck Gallery in Toronto.

Today my primary dealer is Sperone Westwater in New York and I have a Canadian dealer, Trepanier Baer Gallery based in Canada.

Art Interview: How did you get into these galleries?

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