Oliver Bevan

Two Generations
Stone: Lithographic Crayon, Tusche and Toner
3 Runs
290mm x 600mm
2005

Two Generations

The subject forms part of a series on the Piazza del Duomo in San Gimignano. I concentrated upon tourists: their ‘lightness of being’ which stems from not belonging to the place, a kind of positive alienation. The big spaces and the overhead view underline this and at the same time provide an abstract freedom of composition.

Pursuit

For four years I had a studio in an empty classroom in a London primary school. The playground became the principal subject of my work in various media, oil on canvas, pastel, drawing in chalk on black paper and lithography. It was the parallel between the chalk drawing and the manière noire lithographic technique which gave me the impetus for this print.

As a painter who enjoys the occasional challenge of working in a print medium and having tried and rejected etching and screenprinting; I find that stone lithography suits my temperament with its combination of painterly spontaneity and careful chemistry.

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