The Ramboys series can be described as the still unfolding visual archaeology of a mythical, promiscuous boy-culture. Evergon refers to the body of work as ‘a bookless novel’ and invokes Baudelaire’s concept of ‘the bastard novel’ - vignettes and episodes connected by the non-linear associations of memory rather than coherent plot or cohesive narrative - to describe the principle structuring the evolution of the imagery. The Ramboys and their culture are Evergon’s invention, inspired by a tour of the gay cruising ground along the waterfront in Chicago, Illinois, which ‘was spray-painted with dollar signs on the trees, buildings and pavement and was subdivided with declarations ‘Spic Boys’, ‘Jew Boys’, ‘Black Boys’ etc’.4 From the beginning Evergon has identified them with the Greek god Pan, the embodiment of unrestrained male sexuality symbolised by the ram and in Evergon’s iconography, by the ram’s-horned helmets or ram masks the Ramboys wear and from which their names derives. Created as a homoerotic paradigm, the Ramboys are all young, beautiful and uninhibited in their sensuality - and perilously responsive to the camera.
