Tony Bevan is a British painter who makes thought-provoking art, using strong psychological symbols to express his opinion on social issues. His paintings represent the contemporary view of cultural heritage and how it’s incorporated in everyday living. There are elements of modern architecture, street art, and popular entertainment culture, but also literature and moving pictures. What distinguishes him in a special way is his special, restricted palette, that only contains limited shades of a certain color. Also, his tools. He often draws with charcoal and acrylic on canvas. It is usually red color with its variations to warmer and colder tones, and black, white and gray.
The artist was born in a town of Bradford, in Yorkshire county of the United Kingdom. He was certain that the career in art is suitable for him, and he decided to study at the Bradford School of Art. When he graduated in 1971, he enrolled at the Goldsmiths’ College. His education helped his to shape himself as an artist, and during his studies, he was on a constant search to find his inner voice. After the college, he decided to go to the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where he was selected as Academic in 2007. The first exhibitions and public showing happened in the 1980’s.
The portraits he makes are unconventional, abstract and filled with peculiar emotional intensity. They are convincing, though, in their mission to share Bevan’s piece of mind. He paints red colored head, with intertwining lines inside, that represent all the thoughts, principles and views artist has. Paintings serve as a continuous study of the mind and human nature. Along with heads, he makes wonderful depictions of doors, corridors and entrances. These works are more architectural than psychological, but all the disciplines coherently work the theme: that there are so many intangible occurrences in out mind, that sometimes we need to open a special door to enter the mystery world of the self.
In 2014 Tony Bevan made Trees and Archives collection, a series that features various distorted images of trees. The lines he used, mimic the shape of human body, giving the trees a certain type of limbs. All in all, they are living beings, but the colors Bevan used, red, black and violet, give them a less formal look. They are symbolic limbs of the men, having the same color as human flesh, the trees signify human nature, rooted in the subconsciousness and growing to reach the sky.
Featured image: Tony Bevan – Portrait of the artist in his studio (Detail), photo credits RoyalAcademy.org.uk
All images courtesy of the artist
Year | Exhibition Title | Gallery/Museum | Solo/Group |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Trees & Archives | Ben Brown Fine Arts, London | Solo |
2013 | Chinese Trees | Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong | Solo |
2013 | Recent Paintings | Niagara Galleries, Melbourne | Solo |
2013 | Recent Paintings | Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney | Solo |
2012 | Tony Bevan | LA Louver Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA | Solo |
2011 | Tony Bevan Self-Portraits | National Portrait Gallery, London | Solo |
2011 | Tony Bevan | Ben Brown Fine Arts, London | Solo |
2011 | Tony Bevan | Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong | Solo |
2011 | Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy of Arts, London | Group |
2011 | Beyond the Human Clay | James Hyman Gallery, London | Group |
2010 | Tony Bevan Painting Installation | De la Warr Pavillion, Bexhill, England | Solo |
2010 | Tony Bevan Recent Paintings | Galerie Vidal Saint Phalle, Paris, France | Solo |
2010 | Figuration | LA Louver Gallery, Los Angeles | Group |
2010 | Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy Of Arts, London | Group |
2010 | Able Bodied | University of Las Vegas, USA | Group |
2010 | Interior Spaces | Eagle Gallery, London | Group |
2009 | Tony Bevan Construct | James Hyman Gallery, London | Solo |
2009 | Tony Bevan New Recent Work | Michel Soskine Inc, Madrid, Spain | Solo |
2009 | Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy Of Arts, London | Group |
2009 | Paint Made Flesh Frist | Centre For Visual Arts Nashville, Tennessee, USA | Group |
2009 | The Philips Collection | Washington Dc, USA | Group |
2009 | Group Exhibition | Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NYC, USA | Group |
2008 | Tony Bevan New Paintings | Ben Brown Fine Arts, London | Solo |
2008 | Violence and Sensation | Francis Bacon and the Remaking of Appearance James Hyman Gallery, London | Group |
2008 | Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy of Arts, London | Group |
2008 | Building Bridges Today | Art Museum Beijing, China | Group |
2008 | Group Exhibition | Miradas Arquitectonicas en la Coleccion del IVAM, Valencia, Spain | Group |
2008 | Group Exhibition | Michel Soskine Inc Madrid, Spain | Group |
2007 | Tony Bevan | La Louver, Venice, California | Solo |
2007 | Tony Bevan: Monotypes | Marlborough Gallery, London | Solo |
2007 | Tony Bevan paintings 1982-2007 | Centre d’Art Contemporain, Perpignan, France | Solo |
2007 | Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy of Arts, London | Group |
2007 | Then and Now | James Hyman Gallery, London | Group |
2006 | Tony Bevan | Table Top Paintings, Galerie Vidal-Saint Phalle, Paris | Solo |
2006 | Tony Bevan | Paintings And Works On Paper 1982-2005, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia | Solo |
2006 | Tony Bevan - Paintings 1987-2005 | Turnpike Gallery, Leigh, Manchester, England | Solo |
2006 | Tony Bevan | Ben Brown Fine Arts, London | Solo |
2006 | Building Sites | James Hyman Gallery, London | Group |
2006 | Motion On Paper | Ben Brown Fine Art, London | Group |
2006 | Drawing Inspiration | Contemporary Drawings Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, UK | Group |
2006 | Portraits | James Hyman Gallery, London | Group |
2005 | Tony Bevan | A Retrospective Exhibition at IVAM - Instituit Valencia d’art modern, Valencia, Spain | Solo |
2005 | Tony Bevan Paintings 1994-2005 | Michel Soskine Inc Madrid, Spain | Solo |
2005 | A Visages Decouverts | Centre Regional D’Art Contemporain, Montbeliard, France | Group |
2004 | Multiple Selves | James Hyman Gallery, London | Group |
2003 | Tony Bevan – Recent Work | Galerie Vidal-Saint Phalle, Paris | Solo |
2003 | Tony Bevan | Works on Paper, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem | Solo |
2003 | Tony Bevan: Works from Deptford, 1982–2002 | Abbott Hall Art Gallery, Cumbria, UK | Solo |
2003 | Tony Bevan | Milton Keynes Gallery, UK | Solo |
2003 | A Century of British Drawings | James Hyman Fine Art, London | Group |
2003 | From Life Radical Figurative Art from Sickert to Bevan | James Hyman Fine Art, London | Group |
2002 | Tony Bevan, Paintings and Drawings | Robert Miller Gallery, NY | Solo |
2002 | Tony Bevan | Drawings, Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art, London, UK | Solo |
2002 | Tony Bevan – The Complete Prints | James Hyman Fine Art, UK | Solo |
2002 | Five Painters | Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland | Group |
2000 | Tony Bevan | Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art, London | Solo |
2000 | Painting, I Love | Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art, London | Group |
2000 | Look Out Art | Society, Politics, Wolverhampton Art Gallery | Group |
1999 | Tony Bevan Paintings | Abbot Hall Art Gall UK | Solo |
1999 | Tony Bevan | Paintings and Drawings, LA Louver CA | Solo |
1999 | Tony Bevan | Neue Bilder, Galerie Wittenbrink, Munich | Solo |
1999 | Bacon, Bevan, Guston and Baselitz | Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art, London | Group |
1999 | The School of London: From Bacon to Bevan | Musee Maillol, Paris | Group |
1998 | Tony Bevan | Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art, London | Solo |
1998 | Last Dreams of the Millennium – The Re-emergence of British Romantic Painting | Stephen Solovy Art Foundation, California | Group |
1997 | Tony Bevan Paintings of the 80’s and 90’s | Brandenburisge Germany | Solo |
1996 | Tony Bevan | Neue Bilder, Munich | Solo |
1996 | Tony Bevan | Matt’s Gallery, London | Solo |
1996 | Tony Bevan | Theo Waddington Fine Art, London | Solo |
1996 | Masculine Measure | Michael Kohler Arts Centre, Sheboygan, Wisconsin | Group |
1995 | Tony Bevan Kopf Bilder | Galerie Wittenbrink, Munich | Solo |
1995 | Tony Bevan Recent Paintings | LA California | Solo |
1995 | Inside Out | The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Connecticut | Group |
1995 | Drawings of Distinction | Theo Waddington Fine Art, London | Group |
1994 | Here and Now: Painting since 1970 | Serpentine Gallery, London | Group |
1993 | Tony Bevan: New Paintings and Prints | GalWittenbrink, Germany | Solo |
1993 | Tony Bevan: Drawings | Frith Street Gallery, London | Solo |
1993 | Tony Bevan | Whitechapel Art Gallery, London | Solo |
1993 | The Meeting and Related Works | Louver Gallery, NY | Solo |
1993 | The Portrait Now | National Portrait Gallery, London | Group |
1992 | The Meeting and Other Recent Paintings | LA California | Solo |
1992 | British Figurative Painting of the 20th Century | The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel | Group |
1991 | Tony Bevan | Louver Gallery, New York | Solo |
1991 | Tony Bevan | Galerie Elke Zink, Baden-Baden | Solo |
1991 | Five Painters from London | Colegio Arquitectos de Málaga, Spain | Group |
1991 | Out of Limbo | De La Fundacion Luis Cernuda, Seville, Spain | Group |
1990 | Inconsolable | Louver Gallery, New York | Group |
1989 | Tony Bevan | Paintings, LA Louver, Inc, California | Solo |
1989 | Tony Bevan | Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich | Solo |
1989 | Tony Bevan Neue Bilder | Galerie Wittenbrink | Solo |
1989 | Tony Bevan | Kunstverein Lingen, Germany | Solo |
1989 | Prospect 89 | Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany | Group |
1988 | Tony Bevan | Galerie Wittenbrink, Munich, Germany Tony Bevan | Solo |
1988 | Neue Bilder | Kunsthalle Kiel, Germany | Solo |
1988 | Tony Bevan | Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York | Solo |
1988 | European Painting and Sculpture | LA Louver, Inc, California | Group |
1988 | Contemporary Portraits | Flowers East, London | Group |
1988 | Aperto 88 | Venice Biennale, Italy | Group |
1988 | The British Picture | LA Louver, Inc, California | Group |
1987 | Tony Bevan – Paintings 1980–87 | ICA, London | Solo |
1987 | Bradford Festival | Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK | Group |
1986 | Tony Bevan | Matts Gallery, London | Solo |
1986 | Tony Bevan Neue Bilder | Galerie Wittenbrink, Munich | Solo |
1985 | The Honest Portrait | National Portrait Gallery, London | Solo |
1985 | Emblems | Riverside Studios, London | Solo |
1985 | Human Interest | Manchester Arts Centre, Manchester, UK | Group |
1985 | Otherland | Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York | Group |
1985 | Hand Signals | Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK | Group |
1985 | The British Art Show | touring cities: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Southampton | Group |
1984 | Tony Bevan | Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Wales | Solo |
1984 | Tony Bevan: Bilder | Galerie Wittenbrink, Regensburg | Solo |
1984 | Off Shore | Kunstlerwerkstatt, Munich, Germany; Städtische Galerie, Regensburg, Germany | Group |
1984 | Problems of Picturing | Serpentine Gallery, London | Group |
1984 | Private Symbol | Social Metaphor, Sydney Biennial, Australia | Group |
1984 | 4 Artists | Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool | Group |
1983 | Tony Bevan | Portraits and Emblems, Galeria Akumulatory 2 Poznan, Poland | Solo |
1982 | Tony Bevan | Matt’s Gallery, London | Solo |
1982 | Before It Hits The Floor | ICA, London | Group |
1981 | Tony Bevan | Matt’s Gallery, London | Solo |
1981 | Group Exhibition | Lisson Gallery, London | Group |
1976 | Tony Bevan | Robert Self Gallery, London | Solo |
1976 | Tony Bevan | Caius College Gallery, Cambridge | Solo |
1970 | New Directions in Printmaking | South London Art Gallery, UK | Group |