“My work for me is all spiritual. I think what happens in this physical world is also reflected in the spiritual realm.”
Place continues to shape the work. After Mobile, Evans spent time in Birmingham where new imagery entered his visual language. “I really wanted to dive into inspirations not only from my hometown in Mobile, but also Birmingham,” he says. “When I moved there I was captivated by these cherry blossoms because they felt strange and foreign.” That sense of displacement resonated. “I related to those cherry blossoms as I was pursuing an unconventional career with very contrasting interests from my peers in such a small town, so you’ll see a lot of cherry blossoms in my paintings.”
Spirituality underpins much of Evans’ thinking. Raised Baptist, he began questioning the framework he grew up in as he got older. “Originally I grew up Baptist, my mother raised us in a church,” he says. “And as I got older, I started to question things.” That questioning opened new mental doors. “In that discovery on what higher power is for me, a lot of doors opened in my mind and it’s reflected in my work. My work for me is all spiritual. I think what happens in this physical world is also reflected in the spiritual realm.”
Each painting holds its own gravity. “With my work, I reflect on one story at a time,” Evans says. “And because my works are about the body of a human, the power within a human, there’s always a direct correlation between the body and these supernatural situations that they find themselves in.” Bodies shift, environments bend, symbols emerge and dissolve.
That same openness extends beyond painting. Evans founded Mijoshski as an extension of his values as an artist. Named in honor of his late father, the platform carries personal weight while staying grounded in process. It began with small, hands-on production, often made from his mother’s home and grew through consistency rather. It functions as another place for his work to live.
Back in his Brooklyn studio, Evans works at a steady pace, letting paintings develop without forcing them. For him, the physical and the supernatural are connected, the figures hold power because they are human first.
All images courtesy of Joshua Evans
