Beven exhibits again
Ruwini JAYAWARDANA
The remarkable shades and chisel brush strokes merge into one and
unveil portraits and landscapes which beckon the eyes. For
internationally acclaimed painter George Beven, painting is a part and
parcel of the day. Famous for his use of gouache colours, Beven says
that he started painting coloured designs with the use of the
toothbrush.
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George Beven. Pictures by Ruwan de Silva |
"I sketch them precisely and flick Indian ink off a toothbrush onto
the cartridge paper and unearth the details using my hands. I use bright
colours in my work. I am a lazy painter and only take up the brush when
I feel the urge. It takes me once in three years to put on an
exhibition," admitted the artist who hails from Negombo but is now based
in UK. He said that the English prefer much duller shades, a fact that
he finds somewhat awkward as England possesses a gloomy climate all year
round.
However this weather provides him with the ideal setting to paint for
he is able to experiment with colours without going through the pain of
feeling the colours are too bright and straining his eyes.
The gift for painting was in his blood even at the tender age when he
started schooling at the Methodist College Newstead. During his stint at
Maris Stella College a colleague urged him to send some of his black and
white ink drawings to a newspaper. Later the women's page editor of the
Ceylon Observer, Anne Abeysekara, requested him to join Lake House.
Interestingly he was the first artist to be employed by the paper to
sketch fashion and illustrations for short stories and feature articles.
Later he headed off to Heywood and was among the first batch with
contemporaries like Tissa Ranasinghe, Sita de Saram, Danto Ahamath,
Verdon Saldin, Ivor Baptiste and Rowena Fonseka before flying to the
Martin school of Art.
His work is made up of portraits, nudes and sceneries. Though he is a
Roman Catholic, Beven's work betrays the fact that he is 'Buddhist
conscious'. Most of the scenes he had projected in his work are those he
had seen in Sri Lanka and quite a number of them portray Buddhist monks
engaging in their daily rituals. He confessed that he is highly
influenced by his mentor, David Paynter. For him painting is not simply
a matter of copying nature onto canvas or the sketch pad but to capture
the scenes in his own style.
"I like to use the water-based technique to get the desired effect.
The closest you can get to this type of medium are the poster colours. I
have been showcasing my work every three years since 2001," he said.
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Some of Beven’s paintings. |
A hallmark of his career is the monotone portrait which he painted of
Princess Margaret.
"It did it by studying several photographs of her. This techniques
takes far too long that it is almost impossible to do it live,"
explained the artist who is of English descent. He had also captured
celebrities like Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Liza
Minelli, Rudolf Nureyev and Michael Baryshnikov in colourful, frozen
images and his paintings embellish many a wall in Sri Lanka, Britain,
France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Japan, India, Australia and USA.
"I like painting people but as the personality emerges from the
painting, most people do not wish me to paint them. I get acquainted
with my subjects for this purpose. As I have retired I now paint for my
personal pleasure. It is not a mode of earning my living. I paint
because I have a passion for the art. If you don't like my paintings, I
couldn't care less," added the strong-willed individual who had worked
at a Travel company during one stage of his career. Having reached four
score years last June Beven reminisces on the era when he did not even
have money to buy the essential ingredients to paint. It was Russian
painter Nicolai Mishoutouchikine who had finally come to the rescue with
his suggestion of using colour and hands as substitutes on rush mats.
He will be heading back to England for the winter season, not because
he enjoys the cool climate but because his companion, renowned
choreographer and dancer Wolfgang has many projects lined for the
season.
The duo has a 40-year partnership. Wolfgang also launched two
explicit books of Beven's work when he turned 80. |
