When I first stumbled across Annie Kevans' work I'll admit I first took it for merely a few beautiful paintings. And what beauty at that! The milky liquidity of her stroke is so fluid yet ghostly, I am reminded of warm breath against a cold window.
But when I explored her work on deeper levels (and read her personal intentions for the work; here) it came to me that behind the smouldering eyes of her portraits lay dark studies of humanity.
Many of her portraits are modeled after real people and their documented photographs, but with an important difference. Kevans depicts these figures in many ways, both accurately and askew, but through her manipulation of their physical appearance new realities are born that express unseen truth. In the series 'Boys' Kevan's depicts famous dictators as children, exploring purity and corruption and, "in particular, the notion of the 'innocent child'."
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