"I just gave a lecture at UWM in Milwaukee about voguing and its relationship to the queer history of the American avant-garde."

When we first discovered the lovely Evan here, we thought ‘Oh he would make a great ‘Love Is…’ boy but then the more we creeped his Instagram, the more about him we wanted to know. So we got in touch and it just so happened the gods were in our favour as Evan had a bunch o’nudes, shot by Bryson Rand, just waiting to post. Lord knows we love a nude. Scroll down for an interview with Evan where we discuss his job as a museum curator, getting called ‘faggot’ on the streets of Boston, Hilary’n’Bern & how Texas is more tolerant than we all think.

You’re a curator for a museum in Texas. What does that involve?
It’s sort of like being a project manager with a lot of big ideas. I do a lot of research and writing and coordinating and looking. I design exhibitions and manage projects and I work on acquisitions and our collection. And I sometimes wear skirts and leggings to my office instead of a suit.

Are there any artists or types of art you try to push?
In my independent projects and lectures I often focus on artists who are pioneers; artists who reveal new ways of seeing and thinking and operating as objects and people in the world. That really excites me. I just gave a lecture at UWM in Milwaukee about voguing and its relationship to the queer history of the American avant-garde, due in part to my work with Rashaad Newsome whose practice combines elements of voguing and queer black culture with collage and new media. And I just finished co-editing a book on Jarrod Beck’s architecturally-focused and collaborative performance-sculpture work in Caracas.

Who is your favourite artist?
Delia Deetz from Beetlejuice because Catherine O’Hara.

Art and politics are deeply entwined. Have any of the shows you have been involved with addressed LGBT issues?
I co-founded Fire Island Artist Residency in 2011 with artist Chris Bogia, which meant championing and making real space for queer and trans artists for years, and I continue to make that space in my work.
I was recently the managing curator for an exhibition of art that emerged in the nineties, and I devoted the entire first gallery to artworks produced during the AIDS crisis. It included important works from from Gran Fury, Donald Moffett, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Catherine Opie from 1989-1993. I wanted this subject matter to be in the show in a really confrontational and impactful way because AIDS activism was about making change through visibility, and the disease had such a profound impact on the nineties. I wanted that history to have a glimmer of the kind of visibility that activist groups like ACT UP fought, and in many cases died, for.

The cliché of Texas is that is that it is pretty intolerant. What have been your experiences living there?
I lived openly in Houston for more than 25 years before moving to Boston, yet the first time I was called a ‘faggot’ on the street was in Hyde Park, Massachusetts outside my apartment. Ignorance isn’t confined to the southern United States. Outside the capitol building, Austin prides itself on a kind of Texas hippie legacy. Houston elected one of America’s first openly gay mayors, Annise Parker, and it’s the most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country, surpassing New York. These are facts.
I think the idea that Texans are somehow more intolerant than others is itself a pretty intolerant notion. It negates the existence of a hugely diverse populace and a lot of angry Texas liberals.
For years I lived in Montrose, or what for decades was essentially Houston’s Castro, and I saw more types of gay bars, more out trans persons and LGBTQ people of color, a bigger leather and fetish scene, more drag, and a more sexualized queer culture in Houston than I ever did living in Boston, where marriage equality was the norm. Yeah sure, Rick Perry is from Texas. So is Christeene. So is Juliana Huxtable.

You introduced us to Princess Nokia. Who else is on your musical radar right now?
Did I really? She’s coming through. Right now I’m listening to a lot of Le1f, ANOHNI, Kelela, Mykki Blanco, Rihanna, Thundercat… I listen to a lot of Arthur Russell in my office and Oneohtrix Point Never. Lush reformed recently and their new stuff is beautiful. I just saw Slowdive and Caribou and Sunn0))) here last weekend at Levitation. The shows, music festivals, and parties in Austin are pretty impressive and always feature more upcoming and obscure acts than they do major players. In my car I mostly listen to NPR, KUTX, or KOOP. Austin is the live music capital of the world, so the music on public radio here is no joke. It’s one of my favorite things about living here.

You’ve spoken about your love for Hillary and Bernie. What do you think will come of the election?
Some degree of hopelessness.

These shots you took with Bryson Rand are great. What was it like on set?
Bryson shot me in his apartment in Bushwick. At one point I was on the floor of his kitchen. After the shoot he and I walked down the street to a tortillería near the Jefferson station for tacos. It was a lot of fun. We met a few years ago on Fire Island, where on the beaches, clothing is optional, so being nude felt really comfortable. A lot of Bryson’s recent work features nude models in intimate settings. Even the plants and trees he shoots feel vaguely anthropomorphic and exposed.

Do you model a lot? Is it something you want to pursue?
I never pursued modeling but I’m definitely not a stranger to it. In the last couple of years I’ve been invited by photographers to do it more and more, especially as I get to know more artists. In some ways it feels like an extension of the work I’m already doing as a curator. I like the collaborative nature of a photo shoot and working with an artist to help them make something that has its own life. That’s exactly what happens when you’re working with an artist on an exhibition or a commission or a project.