81. Ian Everard - PLAYERÕS One Two Three Four

2026
Watercolour on paper, found cigarette cards
15 x 21 x 2 cm

Ian Stirling Richmond Everard is a British artist whose meticulous watercolour paintings transform overlooked printed matter and everyday ephemera into objects of sustained contemplation. Using techniques reminiscent of Medieval illumination, Everard painstakingly paints found, inherited and collected objects — books, pamphlets, postcards and souvenirs — often presenting the original object alongside its painted counterpart within the frame. Through this process of intense observation, mass-produced and seemingly insignificant items are elevated into meditations on memory, time, labour and material history.

Everard’s work is rooted in close looking. Though the objects he paints may initially appear ordinary or obsolete, they reveal unexpected emotional and cultural resonance through wear, damage and accumulated history. Every crease, blemish and imperfection is carefully rendered, reflecting both the passage of time and the artist’s prolonged engagement with the object itself. His paintings occupy a compelling space between illusion, archive and devotion, questioning authenticity, value and permanence.

He received an MFA in New Practices from San Francisco State University in 2008, following postgraduate study in Science Communication and Illustration at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a BA in Fine Art/Painting from Stourbridge College of Art.

Recent exhibitions include presentations at the University of California, Santa Cruz Sesnon Gallery (2026); Timelines at Jack Fischer Gallery (2025); and exhibitions at The Bomb Factory and Gathering Gallery as part of Art on a Postcard auction previews. His work has also been exhibited widely across the United States, Japan, the Czech Republic and the UK, including at the de Young Museum, Museum of Art and History, University of Hawai'i Art Gallery and San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.

Everard has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship, the Murphy Fellowship and a Tree of Life Individual Artist Grant.

His work is held in collections including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Achenbach Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, the Crocker Art Museum and Special Collections at the University of California, Santa Cruz.