Self Portrait - 2003. 70 x 60 x 12 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric - Self Portrait is a fully three-dimensional,
but spatially compressed, wall sculpture. It appears distortion-free only when viewed directly from the front.

Evan Perry alongside Aerial #2 - 2006, 269 x 152 x 33 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, aluminum

Evan Penny’s eccentric portraiture transforms the figurative tradition into contemporary observations on the nature of representation. His lifelike sculptures and photographs tantalize us with vivid allusions to reality, while emphatically affirming their fictional demeanor. When faced with one of Penny’s incredible people, we may not believe what we see. - Joe Houston

Working in a similar ‘hyper-realistic’ sculptural style to Ron Mueck,Canadian artist Evan Penny creates some very realistic molded and dye-painted silicone figures, implanting real hair one strand at a time. His figures are mostly head-and-shoulders busts at twice life size or larger. Penny’s technique for these is very similar to artists such as Mueck and other artists who make props for movies; constructing molds for the silicone by modeling clay by hand. These are meticulously-detailed through the painstaking creation of body imperfections such as scars, blemishes - these offer Penny an exploration into human corporeality and fallibility. Interestingly, Penny combines facial characteristics from a variety of sources to create composite portraits. Accompanying photographs (as in the L. Faux series) emphasize the difference between the visual information we believe to be authentic and what actually exists in space.

As a specialist in sculptural effects for film and television Penny has worked on numerous productions including X Men, Existenz, Nixon, Johnny Mneumonic and others. Penny’s recent solo exhibitions include Galeria Fernando Latorre, Zaragosa, Spain, Trepanier/Baer Gallery, Calgary, Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto and Goodwater Gallery, Toronto; group exhibitions include Warm at I Space, Chicago, My Place or Yours at Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto.

Visit Evan Penny’s site for more information and to view his well cataloged works. You may view some more samples of Perry’s hyper-realistic sculptures below.

Panagiota: Conversation (installation view) , 2007
Michael Awad (photographs) and Evan Penny (sculpture) - La Biennale de Montréal 2007

Panagiota: Conversation, 2007 - 275 x 71 x 15 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, aluminum

Back of Danny, 2007 - 84 x 81 x 15 cm, silicone, pigment, hair, aluminum

No One - In Particular #10, Series 2 (Female) , 2007 - 110 x 93 x 19 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric, aluminum

Gerry #2, 2004 - 89 x 97 x 66 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric

Gerry #3, 2005 - 89 x 97 x 66 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric, aluminum

White Gerry, 2004 - 89 x 97 x 66 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric

No One - In Particular #1, Series , 2004 - 86 x 92 x 13 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric, aluminum

No One - In Particular #6, Series 2 (Old) , 2006 - 102 x 81 x 19 cm
silicone, pigment, hair, fabric, aluminum

No One - In Particular #15, Series 1, 2005 - 65 x 65 x 13 cm - silicone, hair, pigment, fabric, aluminum

L. Faux: Color #2 (Libby), 2005 - 152 x 122 x 25 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, aluminum

Female Stretch / Anamorph #1, 2006 - 158 x 32 x 15 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric, aluminum

Homage to Chuck’s Phil #1 (with artist) - 2006 - 267 x 30 x 20 cm
silicone, pigment, hair, fabric, aluminum

Stretch #1, 2003 - 280 x 54 x 17 cm - silicone, pigment, hair, fabric