DES BEVIS, Evocative Canvases, Sept 2-25, 2004, The Gallery at Mattick’s Farm, Victoria

by

DES BEVIS

BRITISH COLUMBIA: Evocative Canvases, Sept 2-25, 2004, The Gallery at Mattick’s Farm, Victoria

By Melissa Whitlock

Depth and grace are two words that aptly describe Des Bevis’s luminous, abstract paintings. During his years of academic fine art training in England, his area of expertise was calligraphy and illumination; he experimented with pure painting on occasion. Only in the last seven years has he been incorporating non-representational painting into his full-time practice. Bevis continues to cite calligraphy as a main influence, which is evident in the elegant lines that hold each painting together. Medieval, illuminated manuscripts inspire the colours themselves, including the glowing golds and silvers, but the resulting paintings are thoroughly modern. Of his process Bevis states, “No art form challenges the hand, eye and mind as does the art of fine writing or ‘calligraphy’. It is from this context that each of my pieces is concerned with line, form, colour and texture – all the elements of a good painting.”

Represented by: The Gallery at Mattick’s Farm, Victoria, BC; The Gallery at Sixty Dallas, Victoria, BC; 
Qualicum Bay Seaside Gallery, Qualicum Bay, BC.