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Tony Bevan
Tony Bevan is one of Britain’s most distinguished contemporary painters. Born in Bradford in 1951, he trained at the Slade School of Art and has held over 40 solo exhibitions in Poland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel and America since his first solo show in 1976.
In the tradition of the School of London, Bevan creates strong, expressive paintings that have a similar intensity to the work of Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff and Francis Bacon. He paints on a monumental scale with an emphasis on materials - he makes his own paint and insists on the varying quality of marks generated by charcoal made from different woods. His canvases are littered with small fragments of charcoal, studio dust and other debris which testify to the physicality of the process.
Architecture is a key aspect of Bevan’s paintings and in the last decade, the artist has been focusing on the interiors of buildings, producing often monochromatic, stark canvases which focus on the structural elements of an interior where repetitive patterns are emphasized. His work negotiates the middle ground between abstraction and figuration, creating a distinctive style. His other subject matter involves the human figure, particularly the head rendered boldly, reaching upwards or outwards into the blank space of the canvas.
Although inspired by a diverse range of historical sources, including Mantegna, Holbein, Gericault, Manet and Bacon, Bevan is well known for his highly distinctive, wholly original style. He pushes the boundaries between drawing and painting and between representation and abstraction in ways which imbue his limited subject matter with meaning and possibility. Tony Bevan lives and works in London.
Please visit the artist's website for more information: www.tonybevan.com