Artist: Tony Bevan

Emanuel von Baeyer Gallery presents ‘Tony Bevan '80s and '90s;’ a display of paintings and drawings from the late 1980s to early 1990s drawn from a distinguished private collection. The presentation captures a pivotal period in Bevan’s career, showing the artist’s bold, expressionist approach to figuration and architectural forms

Bevan’s works are in dynamic interplay with our exhibition ‘Differences in Between’, which includes works by Otto Dix, Willi Geiger, Albert Oehlen, Bettina Mechtersheimer, Marjorie Welish, Dan Walsh, and Max Theo Kehl.

Tony Bevan’s (b. 1951 in Bradford) approach to painting is raw and immediate, an exploration of the human condition through line, texture, and form. His work is psychological, reflecting an internal tension that viewers can relate to. Bevan himself has remarked on his fascination with psychological states, noting, “I’ve always been interested in finding a visual language for the internal experience—how emotion, memory, and identity manifest in form.”

Emerging in the 1980s, Bevan became associated with a group of British painters responding to the political and social upheaval of the time, and for over four decades, the artist has pursued his vision. “To me, painting is about creating presence,” he explains. “It’s not about realism, but about making something that feels undeniably real.” His work moves beyond representation into something elemental, using stark, jagged lines and a restricted, often earthy palette. Bevan’s paintings challenge conventional notions of portraiture, instead offering expressive, almost sculptural depictions of the self and others.

Describing his practice, “I was drawn to surfaces—the texture of walls, the feel of grit in paint,” Bevan reflects. “That physicality is important because it mirrors the rawness of the imagery itself.” His paintings are built through layers of pigment mixed with sand, where rough surfaces heighten the emotional intensity. Bevan expanded into printmaking in the 2000s, a media that resonates with the immediacy of his mark-making.

Bevan’s works have been exhibited internationally, from early landmark shows at the Serpentine Gallery and ICA London to major exhibitions in Germany, the United States, and Australia. His paintings and prints are held in the collections of institutions such as the Tate, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.