Evan Penny (Elim, 1953) is a South African-born artist of Canadian nationality, known worldwide for his hyper-realistic sculptures created with silicone, pigments, hair and aluminum.

 

Working within the hyperrealist movement, Penny's work is influenced by classicist and romantic traditions, but is in conversation with the rise of digital photography and Penny’s own will to achieve increasingly hyperreal results. From there, Penny explores the discrepancies between the actual reality and their image equivalents. 

 

His almost living sculptures test the limits of human optics in terms of scale, and they transgress reality by deforming the figures, stretching them, or recreating blurs.

 

His vast technical knowledge has allowed him to become a great master in the special effects industry of Hollywood films.

 

Evan Penny has exhibited his work in galleries and museums as important as Chiesa San Samuele of Venezia, the Kunsthalle Tübingen, the Museum Der Moderne in Salzburg, the Art Gallery of Ontarior, the Museum de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, among others.

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Stretch #3, 2004
Silicone, fabric & hair

109 x 21 x 8 inches