Evi O + David Esquivel

Universe Understood

27 April – 7 May 2023

Opening Night:
Thursday 27th April 2023, 6 – 8 pm

Meet the Artist:
Saturday 29th April 2023, 10:30am – 12:30pm

Catalogue & Price List:
View PDF Catalogue

‘Universe Understood’ VIEWING ROOM

Saint Cloche is thrilled to reveal an exciting pas de deux – Universe Understood, bringing together two talented artists who also happen to be friends, Evi O and David Esquivel. The duo, presenting this exhibition in tandem, between two galleries and continents; Saint Cloche, Sydney and Uprise Art in New York.  

Evi and David are known for their abstract expressionism and indelible use of colour. Their deep-seated, bold visual language express their own unique and individual take on the world around them. While their works are juxtaposed, there is a friendly feeling between the two alliterations, unintentionally, divergently handsome together. 

Evi O’s passionate curiosity and playful scrutiny of life has a pinch of sardonic humour added to her narrative, while David’s musings are contemplative and introspective observations of the universal magnitude and miniscule of continuum.

About Evi O

Evi O. (b. 1986) is an award-winning multidisciplinary designer and self-taught artist based in Sydney, Australia. With a curious eye and mind, Evi is constantly exploring and observing her surroundings. Her art practice is fuelled by a genuine drive to examine and express human curiosity which she translates into vivid pictorial abstractions with sentiment and humour. Through her simultaneous practice of art and design, Evi’s creative process weaves together an array of experiments in mediums, technology, graphic and spatial design.

Evi has exhibited in Sydney and Melbourne and is represented by Saint Cloche, she debuted at Sydney Contemporary 2019 with Fantasia a solo-presentation by Evi O at Saint Cloche’s booth. In 2022, Evi participated in a presentation of four artists by Saint Cloche at Sydney Contemporary, took part in Whale Tail Project, Chairity by Cult, Mirage launched by Uprise Art New York and was featured in the book Artists At Home published by Thames & Hudson. Most recently her work has adorned Sydney Light Rail as an initiative between 4A gallery and City of Sydney. Evi’s work has been acquired by City of Sydney Civic Collections and Westin Miyako in Kyoto, Japan.

“My inspiration was Amanda Leer’s song ‘My Alphabet’. In the song, Leer sings “Because time goes on and things are changing in my world, here is a new alphabet for the children of my generation. Of course, all these words have a meaning for me, but other generations might find a different mood to their world.

I then explored 26 A-Z topics of the human world as I know it today and endeavoured to capture my ever-progressing world, where identity is a commodity, money is a universal religion, technology rules society, spirituality is trivial, the urban is a mirage and the natural is a fantasy.

As always, in colour play, both ordered geometric and flowing curves, I narrate the suggestive titling of each painting. The result is Jabberwocky, a collected curiosity that somewhat defines my non-sensical universe.”

– Evi O

About David Esquivel

David Esquivel (b. 1994) is a self-taught painter based in Aurora, Illinois, USA. David’s work is a constant meditation on how improbable our existence is and how we’ve managed to survive and thrive within that. Creating from a storytelling perspective where any real symbolism is absent, David explores a world that is forming around him in real time with no prior knowledge or pretence. Simply reacting to what these moments feel like, and understanding what they mean afterwards. Where everything comes back to being grateful for the love that holds it all together.

David has exhibited all over the world. Debuting in his hometown of Aurora, Illinois with a solo, “A World Untouched” in 2017. He’s shown work three times in France. Twice at Galerie Tracanelli in Grenoble in duo shows in 2019 and 2021, as well as a collaborative show with Eve Lippa at Cour Mably in Bordeaux also in 2021. He has created work that was used on two billboards in Taiwan for Integrated Collection. In 2021 he was featured in New American Painting #149 as one of the top painters in his region of the US. Recently shown in Uprise Art’s booth at the Art on Paper art fair in New York in 2022.

“My work has always been about time, about what was here at the beginning. My aim is to invite the viewer, not just to look upon the elements, but to float throughout the world that is the painting. With that, allowing the viewers to understand the magnitude and fragility of it all.

The compositions have turned into landscapes over time, but still think of them as the balancing of relationships that have formed and remained over eons. I do my best to remove myself from the process, to make work that is organic and feels as if time itself has eroded everything, leaving behind what is most resilient and important.

The remnants are left in full view, exposed under a harsh light. Everything, is ever present, at peace with itself and everything around it.”

– David Esquivel