Field Finds (Magpie's Treasures) - acrylic paint, collage and mixed media on panel, 42 cm x 59.5 cm
Field Finds VII (Priest Cove) - mixed media on panel, 29.7 cm x 42 cm
Mine Workings III (Ding Dong) - mixed media in sketchbook, 20 cm x 30 cm
Kevan Porter is a multi-disciplinary visual artist based in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. Following a successful 40 years running his own graphic design business, Kevan has finally found time to focus on his art practice whilst also editing and publishing the much loved bi-monthly ‘Village Life’ community lifestyle magazine.
Having always regularly sketched, especially in Cornwall, in the early 2000s Kevan found himself wanting to become serious about painting so he started to enrol on regular art courses both at the St Ives School of Art and at The Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester.
Drawing has always been a very important aspect of his practice, filling dozens of sketchbooks, starting en plein air and finishing in the studio, to create quite precise finished pieces. His sketchbooks are also his ‘laboratory’ with pages of abstract experiments using paint, crayon, collage, texture paste, and pretty much anything that comes to hand. Many of these experiments eventually become fully realised pieces.
With a ‘magpie eye’, especially when out walking along the rugged and ancient coastline of West Penwith in Cornwall or through ancient woodland and open fields, Kevan collects all sorts of discarded objects which become a part of his work, whether physically or inspirationally. Texture, whether representational or constructed, is also a dominant feature within his painted collages inspired by the decay and detritus found at the sites of derelict tin mines and ancient monuments in and around Cornwall. Much of this work involves re-purposing and recycling to investigate personal and collective narratives and through the processing of these remnants, bring new life and fresh observations. In his studio are boxes and boxes of discarded remnants including packaging of all kinds, old carpet samples, fabrics, mesh, field finds and much more: all waiting to be used in an appropriate piece.
“I am beguiled by the tension and juxtapositions found in the textures of old and decaying buildings, constructions and man-made features which inform my drawings, paintings and constructions”.
Since 2017, Kevan has exhibited his work at: The Attenborough Centre, The Melbourne Art Trail, Art House Leicester, The Wistow Gallery, and Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
Two Forms: Cyclotomic Polynomial
Two Forms: Browns Through Black
Tipping Point
Ancient Tales (Porthmeor)
Green and Red Section
Carn Galver and Gorse
Two Forms Red and Black
Field Finds VIII (Porthgwarra)
Two red forms with black stripes
Two Black Forms with Red Stripes
Two White Forms Green and Red
