Tony Bevan’s large, bold paintings have an undeniable physicality. Their scale is imposing, sometimes larger than the viewer. There is a sense that the paintings can be entered or are separate environments that could be inhabited. The raw brush marks remain on the canvas as traces of the act of painting. Smudges of charcoal remind the viewer that these are objects made by the artists’ hand.
Read MoreArchitecture is a key aspect of Bevan’s paintings. The perspectival structures, overlapping lines like metal beams in a roof, appear throughout his work. In the self-portraits and studies of furniture, the lines constitute the body of the forms. The interior of a head is a dense interweaving of strong and heavy brush strokes. These lines create patterns and spaces that capture and entice the viewer. The shapes created in the lines act as passages for the viewer to look in to and look through.
Over a period of thirty years, Tony Bevan has established himself as one of the foremost contemporary British painters. In the tradition of the School of London, Bevan creates strong, expressive paintings that have a similar intensity to the work of Auerbach, Kossoff and Bacon. His work negotiates the middle ground between abstraction and figuration, creating a distinctive style.
Bevan has held over 40 solo exhibitions in Poland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel and America. He has developed a significant reputation, with both critical and commercial success. He has been included in the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale and has held a major solo exhibition at the prestigious Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. It is a rare privilege to have access to these works in Australia, his only previous Australian exhibition being the 1984 Sydney Biennale.
Text courtesy Niagara Galleries.
