Jeff Evans is a Midwest-based photographer.

When Jeff Evans discovered that his job as a rocket scientist wasn’t as exciting as he thought it was going to be, he took photography classes as a creative outlet. Soon he was going to photo exhibits and collecting hundreds of photo books to learn more. But he found the best way of learning was taking lots of pictures, lots and lots of pictures.

When he moved from the spectacular – and spectacularly expensive -- scenery of northern California to the flat, boring farmland of central Illinois, he was at a loss as to what to photograph. However, managers at various jobs had inadvertently given him an appreciation of the absurd and debugging software had taught him to notice things that were out of place or unusual. He combined these qualities in photos of everyday things that appear normal at first glance, but are absurd.

He has shown his photos in Britain, Germany, Italy and throughout the US.

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Artist Statement:

These are absurd, yet dire, times we live in. President Trump wants to be king and politicians are letting him dismantle the government and democracy they’re part of. As if that isn’t enough, there’s frequent disasters, spreading epidemics and rising inflation.  People try to go about their lives as if everything’s normal, but it’s not.

For the past dozen years I’ve taken photos of everyday subjects that appear normal at first glance, but at second glance are out of the ordinary and absurd. Much like the “new normal” post-COVID, Trumpian times we live in, these photos taken 60 miles from Normal, Illinois are far from normal.