BANG – Blackstone Art Next Generation

Kevin Devonport is self-taught, Award-winning artist, currently based at Assembly House Studios in Leeds. It could be said that he has had a somewhat unorthodox entry into the artworld, as he originally learnt to paint whilst serving a prison sentence for drug offences; art that has had a life-changing effect on him.

Whilst in Prison in 2019 he won the National Koestler Award for the painting category at London’s South Bank Centre, and has won other awards since his release: The Olympic Art Prize and recently the Leonardo Da Vinci International Award in Florence, Italy.

Kevin mainly paints representational art of all genres, but has a particular fondness for still life. Despite not having any artistic qualifications, he does hold a First Class Honours BSc in Sociology that does have an influence on a number of his paintings underlying themes.

Kevin’s work has been increasingly featured around the UK and various European Locations alongside several publications; with his story being covered extensively by the UK press.

Kevin has continuously donated a number of his works to charity that have raised significant sums at auction.

Kevin Devonport The Tarot Series

This overall series of still life paintings highlight the trajectory of ‘the self’ through the life course and is based on the artists own life narrative. The Trainers represent ‘the self’ and the movement through life, whilst the material artefacts convey particular identities that are encountered/adopted throughout this course. In each painting a Tarot card from the major arcana is displayed to depict a specific moment in life, one of the archetypes that everyone experiences albeit in our own subjective experience of
life.