LUCA EVANS
(b. 1994, South Africa)

Luca Evans is a Cape Town based artist working primarily with wood and text.

Evans' work sits in a playful and delicate intersection between tradition and alteration, linguistics and visual art. Sometimes the artist places the viewer in the position of a phonetician, a branch of linguistics which studies how humans produce and perceive sounds.

How do you write sound? How do you signify it? Text and sound bump into each other and spill out. Words work hard. They signify meanings and ideas and actions all at once. Sound words work hard too; it’s not easy signifying sound. Our lexicons are filled with onomatopoeia. Chomp, hiccough, beep, fizz, splash, pop, honk, crack, thud, oomph. I used to work in linguistics. We transcribed sound, rendering it legible. They made an international alphabet of sounds. k/ ræ∫ bæÅ‹ pft. So I started wondering if maybe objects can be sounds. See a mousetrap and hear a snap. This room is filled with sounds. It’s a cacophony, but your head has to fill in the sounds.  _{LUCA EVANS}

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
Lead Balloon, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Crash! Bang Pffffft (CUBICLE Series), Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
A Shape in the Clouds, graduate show, CTCA, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025
10 Years | Summer 2025, Everard Read, London, UK
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Matter Matters | Artists & Their Media, Everard Read, London, UK

2024
Inner Sanctum, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
FNB Art Joburg, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Offcuts, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa
Southern Light, Everard Read, London, UK
Waste, Breakroom, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2023
Under Water Love, pop-up Galerie Eigen + ART, Cape Town, South Africa
TEXT, curated by Brett Seiler + Kamyar Bineshtarigh, Yew Street Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
Anti-booth, Church Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
Paintings of Horses, Under Projects, Cape Town, Curated by Mitchell Gilbert Messina
Toolbox, Under Projects, Cape Town,
The Objects, Under Projects, Cape Town, curated by Sean O’TooleOpen Studios, Mowbray Studios, Cape Town, Curated by Sibu Masters
Far From Home, Bonne Espérance Gallery, Paris, Curated by Fanie Buys + Scott Billy

2022
At Odds, curated by Michaela Limberis + Siya Bangena, Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa
Pilot, Under Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
Fun House, curated by Khanya Mashabela, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
Sculptures of Cars, Under Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
Home is Where the Art Is, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa
Romance, 79 Buitenkant, Cape Town, South Africa (curator and artist)
Fluorescents, curated by Fanie Buys, Open Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
Good On Paper, The Commons, Cape Town, South Africa

EDUCATION

2022
Curatorial Fellowship, New Curators x A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town

2021
Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Art, Cape Town Creative Academy

2019
Honours in Linguistics, University of Cape Town

2016
Bachelor of Social Sciences, University of Cape Town
Gender & Sex Project Workshop Facilitator Training, University of Cape Town