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Annie Kevans

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Annie Kevans (born Cannes, France) is an English artist. She was named number 19 in Harper's Bazaar magazine's Forty Under 40 chart of hot new British talent, September 2007[1] and was named number 32 in New Woman magazine’s Brit Hit List and was described as the "new Tracey Emin".[2] She is represented by Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York and is married to the cartoonist and singer-songwriter Will Kevans.

Education and work 2004 - 2009

Kevans took her BA at Central St Martins College of Art and Design (1999–2004). While studying at St Martins, Kevans worked at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London's East End.[3] The 30 paintings from the series Boys, from her BA Degree show, were bought in their entirety by Charles Saatchi in 2004.[4] These paintings showed 20th Century tyrants, dictators and war criminals such as Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Radovan Karadzic as wide-eyed toddlers.

Her second series, Girls, dealing with the sexualisation of childhood and exhibited at London's Studio 1.1 gallery in 2006, was an installation of a girl's bedroom complete with bed, a lampshade, teddy bears and other childhood toys and memorabilia. Kevans' brightly coloured painting of Shirley Temple hung on the wall above the bed.[5]

Kevans' next series, entitled Swans, shown in June 2007 at 319 Portobello Road, focused on the 'American Dream' and included an image of Jessica Dubroff, a seven-year old pilot who was attempting to become the youngest person to fly an airplane across the United States. Dubroff was killed 24 hours into the flight when her plane crashed.[6] She was, "Inspired by an American makeover programme called The Swan where women of low self esteem are transformed by plastic surgery. For me it exemplifies societies obesession with youth and beauty."[3] The exhibition included paintings of Mouseketeers Doreen Tracey and Britney Spears. All 27 paintings in the Swans exhibition sold out as soon as it opened and Kevans was therefore able to give up her day job as a secretary to focus on her art full-time.[7]

Her One Child series (2005) looked at China's 'One Child' policy which forces many families to have only one child in order to keep China's population growth under control. Gods and Aliens (2004) looked at the human need to believe.

One of Kevans’ paintings appeared on Have I Got News For You in late April 2007.[8]

In September 2007, Kevans exhibited a new series of paintings she'd been working on called Vamps and Innocents, for a solo show in Vienna, based on the silent films of the 1920s and its stars. The entire show sold out in its first week. Kevans said, "the portraits are of the '20s female movie stars who were forced to either play the role of the virgin or the whore." [9]

Fellow artists Marc Quinn and Stella Vine are noted as being fans of her paintings.[10] Quinn has Kevans' work in his art collection.[11]

In October 2007, Kevans was shortlisted for a Women Of The Future award in the Art and Culture Woman of the Future category.[12]

In September 2008, a Kevans painting of star Brooke Shields sold for a record price at the charity auction for the Macmillan De'Longhi Art Auction in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.[13] Whilst in October 2008, Kevans donated a surfboard with an painted image of 1940s actress Esther Williams, who was known as the "Hollywood Mermaid"[14], to the charity auction for Surfers Against Sewage.[15] Other artists involved included Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, Sir Paul McCartney and Ben Eine.

In November 2008, Kevans contributed a painting, orginially used as the sleeve art for her musician husband Will Kevans' record Dialing Tone in 2007[16], to an exhibition Awopbopaloobop in London, where artists had made works inspired by a favourite song lyric.[17] The painting had been banned in November 2007 by online music store iTunes who operate a "strict "no nipples" rule" forcing the artist to crop the image in order for iTunes to stock the song.[16] Kevans said: “The picture’s now cropped, so you just see the face. I didn’t worry about it, because painting isn’t usually thought of as pornographic.”[16] In December 2008, Kevans sold a further 12 paintings at the Scope art fair stand in Miami, USA.[18]

In January 2009, Kevans was a judge for the Daler Rowney international art competition Make Your Mark.[19] The winner of the Further Education category won a two night stay in London and the opportunity to spend a day with Annie Kevans.[19]

In March 2009, Kevans had her first USA solo exhibition All the Presidents Girls[20] at Volta NY in New York.[21] The International Art Newspaper reviewed the exhibition of "beautifully executed paintings"[22] depicting all the mistresses of US presidents including Monica Lewinsky and Marilyn Monroe, and commented the show was "pulling in the crowds".[22] All 11 pieces relating to JFK sold before the fair opened, with around 12 other works purchased within an hour of the event launch. One US couple commented "as Americans, we find it mildly offensive".[22]

In July 2009, Perry Rubenstein Gallery in New York announced it was representing Kevans. Her first large-scale US solo exhibition will be in February 2010.[23] During Summer 2009, the gallery presented a selection of Kevans' work taken from a new series inspired by the WAMPAS Baby Stars.[24]

Solo Exhibitions

  • Annie Kevans at Volta NY with FAS Contemporary, New York, USA (5–8 March 2009)
  • Vamps and Innocents at Galleria Antonio Ferrara, Vienna, Austria (September 2007)
  • Swans at 319 Portobello Road, London, UK (1–23 June 2007)
  • Girls at Studio 1.1, 57a Redchurch Street, London, UK (7 April - 7 May 2006)

Collections

References

  1. ^ Annie Kevans London based artist, - 40 under 40
  2. ^ Taken from New Woman 'The Brit Hit List' magazine article, July 2006.
  3. ^ a b Interview quote of Annie Kevans interviewed by Francesca Martin, taken from Harper's Bizarre magazine, 2007.
  4. ^ Figure and information taken from Evening Standard article 'In Search Of The Next Big Thing' published 23 May 2007
  5. ^ http://www.anniekevans.com/index.php?Exhibitions_%26amp%3B_Events:Past:Girls Description of the exhibition, photo of which can be seen at Anniekevans.com
  6. ^ http://www.artworkproductions.net Information sourced from the press release for Kevans' Swans exhibition from Art Work Productions
  7. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/06/05/bamarketnews.xml The Telegraph arts news
  8. ^ http://www.artworkproductions.net/ Named number 32 in New Woman’s‘Brit Hit List’, one of Kevans’ paintings will be appearing on ‘Have I Got News For You’ in late April.
  9. ^ http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/blogon/2007/06/laura_k_jones_on_annie_kevans_2.php Laura K Jones reviews Kevans' show Swans in 2007
  10. ^ Annie Kevans London based artist, - Harper's Bazaar Jul 07
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Profile: Collections, AnnieKevans.com, 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  12. ^ Women Of The Future
  13. ^ http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Documents/Support_Material/Get_involved/London_events/DeLonghi-Catalogue.pdf
  14. ^ Kevans "Hollywood Mermaid" surf board, Artnet.com, 2008.
  15. ^ http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=4054564&iSaleNo=16484&iSaleSectionNo=1
  16. ^ a b c Cole, Olivia "", November 2007. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  17. ^ "Biteback", 11 November 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  18. ^ "Miami 08’s Most Talked About Art Fair Draws a Record 30,000 Visitors" Life Is Art, December 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  19. ^ a b Make Your Mark International Art Competition Winners Announced, 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  20. ^ Anderson, Ariston. Annie Kevan (sic): All the Presidents' Girls, Cool Hunting, 6th March 2009.
  21. ^ Annie Kevans News, AnnieKevans.com, 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  22. ^ a b c "Review: Volta 2009", from The International Art Newspaper, p. 9, March 2009.
  23. ^ Annie Kevans, Brask Art Blog, 31 July 2009.
  24. ^ Annie Kevans at Perry Rubenstein Gallery, July 2009.
  25. ^ http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/annie_kevans.htm
  26. ^ http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2007/12/a-piece-of-brit.html
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