Simon Evans was born in London in 1972. He now lives and works in Berlin. I encountered his work via brief mention on It’s Nice That earlier this week. Evans work combines drawing, collage, and sometimes more to articulate feelings of loneliness and isolation. His is work born from memory of home, and work fueled as well with some spot on humor. Intricate and engrossing, Evans is quite frankly a joy. He is represented by James Cohen Gallery.

As example, Symptoms of Loneliness (2009) of pen, paper, scotch tape and correction fluid is seen above.

A few more of Evans’ works after the jump.

Recently opened, Henry Darger and the Coloring Book packs nine examples of the artists work with mixed media and coloring books in a concise case exhibition. The collected material provides glimpse into Darger’s process, casting light on use of popular culture imagery adopted for his own unique purpose.

Henry Darger and the Coloring Book runs through September 13, 2010 at the American Folk Art Museum. (via Curated).

Further examples from the exhibition follow.

Aside from Skin & Bones, the tattoo show exploring body marking in the life of the American Sailor I worked on, there are a few other wonderful tattoo exhibitions open at the moment. It’s a great time for the art, with the Sailor Jerry film having just been released and a number of good books in the works. In that the scholarship is strengthening and the push toward collecting the stories of many of the living greats is building.

Freaks & Flash brings to life the roots of Western Tattooing through vintage flash and circus banners. Focus in on midwestern artists and collections, but the scope is nonetheless international. Some major figures of tattoo history are well represented – the legendary Englishman George Burchett, Milwaukee’s Armund Dietzel, and the inventor of the tattoo machine Samuel O’Reilly, to name a few. Co-curated by Anna Friedman-Herlihy and Jan Petry, the exhbition presents many fine examples of tattoo history to the public for the first time.

Freaks and Flash opened on September 11 and runs through January 9, 2010 at Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Arts, 756 N. Milwaukee, Chicago. (via Curated).

Above is a piece of flash by Sailor Bill Rodgers. Hit the jump to see work by Burchett and O’Reilly.

Currently on view at Houston’s Menil Collection, Drawings on Site brings together a selection of drawings from Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The two artists share sketches for proposed public monuments from the last 30 years. Oldenburg, an innovator in the American Pop Art movement, proposed many public works based on familiar objects. In part, his ideas were challenges to traditional models of sculpture. Oldenburg was joined by Coosje van Bruggen in 1976. Together they would propose a number of sculptures, some unfeasible. In the pitches, Oldenburg developed new drawing techniques that merged the spontaneous with a stylization of architectural drawing.

Drawings on Site is up to October 11, 2009. Full information from Menil. (via Curated).

Dartmouth’s Hood Museum Of Art is playing host to a collection of wonderful and witty cartoons. Honore Daumier was (and remains) one of the most adept satirists of his day, delivering with great humor an account of France during the rapidly changing 19th-century. France in Transformation covers Daumier’s career and adds insight into the cultural and political scene of his times. On view until August 24, 2009.

More caricature work by Daumier after the jump.

There is no questioning the depth and scope of The Morgan Library & Museum’s collection. Among the terrific holdings are some fascinating documents outlining the development of modern set design. 50 drawings from this portion of the collection make up Creating the Modern Stage, which over 4 sections reveals how modern technology led to new theories about the role of actor and stage set. Enriching the drawings are photographs, musical scores and more. Worth going even if you’re not into the theater, the building itself is a marvel.

DesignObserver has produced a brief slide show of some of Seymour Chwast’s drawings. Covering one of his most longstanding obsessions – cars – the drawings offer insight into the workings of the design consultant. Rather than spend his days chatting about design, Chwast follows his training as a commercial artists, taking time drawing and painting. More about Chwast in the newly published monograph Seymour.

Images follow.

Eugene Masselink (1910–1962) joined Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesan Fellowship in 1933 as a graphic designer and assistant to Wright. Known as Gene to his colleagues and Wright clients, he quickly became one of Wright’s most trusted protégés and one of the significant talents in the Wright office, producing decorative designs for interiors of many Wright commissions.

Masselink was born in Capetown, South Africa, and moved with his family to Grand Rapids where he grew up. He remained with Taliesan after Wright’s death in 1959 and died suddenly from a heart attack three years later in 1962. In recent years, the designs that he created for the Wright office have gained increased recognition. In 2006 the art museum acquired an important screen that Masselink designed for the Elizabeth Gordon House in 1956.

Eugene Masselink: Drawings for Frank Lloyd Wright opens tomorrow at Grand Rapids Art Museum. The Museum is the worlds first LEED certified museum. The eight drawings exhibited are on loan from Taliesan West, and this is the first time they have been displayed outside of Arizona.