Stand A9
Ben Brown Fine Arts is pleased to announce its participation at Frieze Masters this October, presenting a solo exhibition of early works by Tony Bevan. Bevan's exploration of figurative and abstract representation has made him one of the UK's leading contemporary painters.
Tony Bevan: Painting 1980-87 at the ICA in London confirmed Bevan's status as a leading figure in British painting; this Frieze Masters presentation focuses on the period during and immediately following this exhibition. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Bevan moved from subjectivity towards abstraction. At the core of Bevan's art is an abiding preoccupation with confronting the self. While early figurative works are more literal (Exposed Arm,1986; Black Chair,1988; Portrait Boy,1991), works like Self-Portrait Neck (1988) expose the relationship between his figurative heads and later architectural works. Towards the end of the 1990s Bevan abandons nearly all reference to the face, leaving an abstract tangle of lines (Horizon,1998) and creating an architectural space similar to Corridors (Corridor, 1995) and Rafters (Red Interior, 1999).
Coinciding with his retrospective exhibition at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford (2016-17), this presentation will highlight the significance of Bevan's oeuvre and demonstrate the cross-generational influence he continues to hold on British painters.