Evan Voyles was born and raised in Austin, Texas, with much of his youth spent at his family's Lazy V Ranch in the nearby Hill Country. He is a cum laude graduate of Yale University, with a degree in Intensive English. Trained to tear down, analyze, and rebuild literature, Voyles instead applied his talent to the unintentional poetry and iconic imagery of classic American roadside signage. His careers as both signmaker and artist have been guided by this interest.
Before resettling in Texas, Voyles lived on both the East and West coasts, and has travelled extensively through every state in between. Voyles' behind-the-wheel observations of the passing landscape take the form of notes, photographs, and sketches. Over time these notes etc. evolve into either signs or artworks.
Built under the aegis of his business The Neon Jungle, most of Voyles' award-winning signs may be seen on the streets of Austin, Texas. Independant music venues, restaurants, boutiques, theatres, and advertising agencies are the core of his clientele. He has also placed work from New York to Los Angeles, and from Switzerland to Japan (see Signs).
Voyles' paintings are shown at Blackmail, a boutique/gallery that he co-owns with his wife on Austin's hip South Congress shopping strip. The first two installments of his most recent series of paintings have been featured in magazines as well as on mTV's The Real World (see Artworks). Earlier works have been shown at galleries in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, and Austin.
Voyles is also well known as a collector and dealer of vintage cowboy boots and vintage handmade signs, both of which he considers to be forms of American folk art. These collections have been featured in books such as the Cowboy Boot Book and its sucessors, Lone Star Living, and in national print media, as well as on The Discovery Channel and in Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife – the clothing designer and retail empress, Gail Chovan – and their twin children, Credence and Zelda.