Tony Bevan Head (PC049), 2004 Acrylic, pigment and charcoal on canvas 163.8 x 172 cm 64 1/2 x 67 3/4 inches British artist Tony Bevan’s distinctive graphic style and continued exploration of figurative and abstract representation have made him one of the UK’s leading contemporary painters. In his pigment-rich skeletal forms, Bevan highlights the structures inherent, through the thick lines and marks of pure colour. His use of charcoal and pure acrylic pigments give his paintings a remarkably opulent appearance and dramatic tactility. Bevan‘s paintings are produced with the canvas unstratched and lying flat on the ground of his studio, allowing him to force the pigment into the pores of the canvas. His ‘Heads’ emphasise the unique structuring of the human body, often reducing portraits to a few intense strokes. These heads are often presented as floating, not to dislocate, but to remind the viewer of the all encompassing nature of the mind.
