Evan Schouten

Evan Schouten is a watercolorist and oil painter. He strives to create pieces that sit oddly between surrealism and the baroque with a focus on figures and portraits. Storytelling is at the heart of his work.

Evan is the 2026 Roost Boost Scholarship Award First Place Winner.

Artist Statement
My work is an exploration of gender and surreal imagery through subtle narratives and ambiguous emotions. I encourage the viewer to project onto the work and form their own interpretations. I use self-portraiture to express myself and tell my story. In my work canines are a mouth-piece for my interpretation of masculinity, specifically transmasculinity. I see them as creatures that are accepted if they behave as expected or required or are rejected if they don’t.

This refers more to domesticated dogs, but I think it can also refer to wolves or coyotes (the canines I paint more often).