Planet Icarus, 2050 series, 2023. Acrylic and methane monooxygenase on canvas, 48″ x 60″.
Evan Sharma

This Artist Mixes a Methane-Reducing Enzyme into His Paint

Our culture's reliance on the beef industry sits at the center of Evan Sharma's work

EVAN SHARMA IS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY artist working at the intersection of art and science. He finds these opposing fields provide a creative friction that enables art to bring people into the conversation around the urgency of climate change. Art is not bound by the confines of science, and yet, science is where real world possibilities, knowledge and solutions are born. Ideas formed in the lab can be expanded on canvas. For Sharma, art is where dreaming happens. Science is where dreams are tested and applied.

During his research, Sharma found that the enzyme monooxygenase (MMO), which reduces methane emissions by up to 70%, could be transferred to cattle, who emit methane at a rate ten times the potency of carbon dioxide. By mixing the enzyme into paint, his 2050 series highlights the complicity of each of us in preserving (or destroying) the landscapes we love. 

In 2050, iconic landscapes thrive again if we, as a society, curb climate change. Each painting depicts the contour of a cow, symbolizing both our society’s reliance on beef–a significant contributor to global warming–and how the MMO enzyme may provide a scientific solution. Sharma’s use of strong red and blue hues symbolizes methane build-up (the gas absorbs red light and reflects blue) in the atmosphere in the absence of collective action. Through a uniquely scientific lens, he presents the viewer with both a utopia and dystopia leaving it to them to choose a future. 

Planet Icarus, 2050 series, 2023. Acrylic and methane monooxygenase on canvas, 48″ x 60″.

 

The World Is Yours, 2050 series, 2023. Acrylic and methane monooxygenase on canvas, 60″ x 96″.

 

Machu Picchu, 2050 series, 2023. Acrylic and methane monooxygenase on canvas, 60″ x 48″.

 

Left: Charity Shoal, 2050 Series, 2023. Acrylic and methane monooxygenase on canvas, 36″ x 48″. 
Right: Kanchenjunga, 2050 series, 2023. Acrylic paint and methane monooxygenase on canvas, 36″ x 48″.

Evan Sharma is a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of art and science. 

At the young age of twelve, Sharma was selected to exhibit at The Artist Project, a well-regarded contemporary art fair in Canada, as the youngest artist to ever exhibit there. Now, as an award-winning researcher and STEM major at Queen’s University, his time in the lab serves as inspiration for his art. He also hosts the first artist-run Snapchat channel and uses his platform to educate and rally folks worldwide around climate change. Sharma has been called one of Canada’s most talented young artists by Nuvo magazine, one of Toronto’s best artists by Toronto Life, and one of 5 youths worldwide who are affecting social change (along with Greta Thunberg and Mala Yousafzai). His work is being acquired by collectors in NYC, LA, London, and Dubai. Sharma’s artistic process centers around the idea that we can predict the future we want to see – we all have a choice. His art is often manifested through a hands-on lens of altruism. During COVID-19, his non-profit Covart gathered the work of artists all over the world to be auctioned off, providing over 140,000 meals for Kenyan children whose education was affected by pandemic-related food insecurity.