The Totem of Modern Life Painting

London Irish artist Kevin Gavaghan is originally from North London and now works from his studio in Hertford. His paintings are collected internationally, including Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, USA, Ireland, Scotland and England and he is known for his brooding and evocative figurative paintings dancing around the fringes of surrealism and abstract art. Kevin is an advocate for mental health awareness. His paintings are an inner journey of self exploration and emotional memories into his life growing up from the 1970s in a large Irish family whilst coping with the complexity of life with Tourette’s and anxiety related illnesses. He sees the past and its content as informing the present and the decisions we make in our daily lives. Kevin touches on some challenging subjects, such as growing up with Tourette’s and anxiety, religion and politics within the Irish community, relationships and the loss of loved ones as well the challenges we all face but hide from our public persona. Part of his process is to collects images and photographs, as well as making notes and drawings that reflects a memory at a point in time. These inform the emotional connection that he feels about any given moment in his past. He creates organically and his paintings continue to develop throughout the process often changing their personality many times before settling on what he believes reflects a truth within his thoughts, much as he sees the development of his own life. Kevin’s palette and application of bold vibrant colours dissect and bend his figures and portraits to the point of abstraction which, for Kevin, highlight the multi layers of our inner emotions rather than the external likeness of his subject. His paintings directly confront the viewer with haunting sharpness, striking energy and hope, reflecting back the emotions of the viewer.