Press release by Barbara Burke:

What goes through your head when you drive to work on a Tuesday morning? Do you concentrate on your journey and how you’ll go about it? Or, once you slip into autopilot mode, do you berate yourself for not practising your saxophone last night or just gaze at the hills around you?

Bevan Shaw sat down at intersections around Wellington and sketched and painted hills, roads, bridges and road markers for his forthcoming exhibition, What are you driving at? – opening on Friday 9 October at Toi Pōneke Gallery. His intensely colourful, imagined landscapes have both the signs you see on the road as well as images from wandering thoughts embedded, sometimes hidden, among the paintings. All you have to do is take a long look at his paintings to see some of these camouflaged objects.

But Bevan’s paintings are not just about driving, journeys and pathways – these ideas make up a small part of his in-depth exploration of colour, ways of seeing and “the patterns that the brain creates from visual information”.

Bevan says he thinks about colour and pattern in almost everything he sees, and reading about the psychology of sight and perception has greatly influenced this body of work.

“What I love about paintings as a medium is that not only do they tell you things about how painters see the world, but they also make you think about how differently you see the world,” says Bevan.

Throughout his paintings, he has meticulously created series of multicoloured lines and densely patterned landscapes to play with the viewer’s eyes.

“This could be a fun exploration of sight for visitors to the gallery,” says Bevan. “You can have a go at playing something like ‘Where’s Wally?’ as you make out the hidden symbols and objects behind the patterns, but I hope that it will also help you enjoy thinking about perception and how our sight works.”

Bevan grew up in Auckland before moving to Christchurch to do a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury and then moving to Wellington. He has exhibited in group exhibitions throughout the country – this is his first solo show.

Q & A

by Ruth Korver

TLC stopped by for a short chat with Bevan about the exhibition.

How does it feel showing your work by yourself rather than in a group show?
It feels fantastic. You have control over the exhibition process, what happens, how your work is presented and so on. With that process is a large personal responsibility. It’s a nice challenge to do everything yourself. If you don’t know something you learn quickly. Paradoxically the tougher it became the more organised I got.

How did you find the space for the exhibition?
I have been looking at galleries regularly, especially in Wellington. I looked at the shows each space was having, the artists involved and visualised how my work would look in each space. Most spaces have their own application processes so it is important to ask questions.
There are many advantages to showing at Toi Poneke. One advantage is you do not have to man the show – an important consideration for a solo exhibition.

Is all the work new, made for the show?
Most of the work in the show was made since April, so about 4-5 months. Two works were made previously. A few months ago people may have seen me drawing on a folding chair around Wellington intersections with large sheets of paper! Direct observation is important. I think it is important to get out of the studio and directly observe what you are interested in visually if possible. Photographs flatten depth, and change visual information.

What are the concepts behind your work?
I prefer viewer’s to make up their own minds about this. I really wanted the show to be quite open, so there are ideas which are specific to certain paintings and other ideas which link the paintings. Some underlying interests tie them together: interests in colour, paint, visual perception, landscape and my everyday surroundings.

How is colour important in your work?
I’m very interested in colour and how to approach it. I do not accept using colour in my work only for the emotional charge it brings. I like to observe how colour works in the real world, how it reflects off one thing onto another. You can think of colour in a very logical structured way but it is also endlessly changing. Then there is an interesting approximation that happens as you move from observed scene into a painterly reality. Colour also has a fascinating history – it is very important.

There are lots of patterns in your paintings as well?
Yes there are. Everything in a painting is placed there by hand and so it seems that patterns naturally begin to occur as approximations are made. I think it is natural to see patterns in everything. Many patterns also have strange effects on our visual perception. Parallel lines are a good example. Most eyes are asymmetrical, so patterns of radiating parallel lines tend to go out of focus somewhere. When you look to the blurred parts, they become sharp and other areas blur. This creates a shifting wobbliness, an illusion of movement.
There are many patterns that guide us and help us in our everyday surroundings. Road markings are a good example of this. I regularly spend time driving in a car with no distractions due to the demise of the car speakers. I began to think about what my eyes were seeing and this began creeping into the work.

Do you respond a lot to other artists’ work?
Of course! Art is fascinating because it reminds you of how differently others interpret their surroundings. You also notice what you notice! I especially enjoy seeing good paintings and have a number of favourite painters.

How do you feel about putting up your work and getting feedback from an audience, and talking about what you’ve made?
I feel fine about it. I am confident in the work. I have been getting very positive feedback from a wide range of different people. When people talk to you about your work, it is a compliment because they are interested in the work.

You didn’t put an artist statement up in the show, you had a list describing moments of driving?
That list was my artist statement. At an exhibition, I do not like being told what to think by an artist statement but prefer to look at the work first. The list was positioned around the corner away from the entrance to the space as a way of allowing people to first look at the work. By encountering the list later on they can then choose to think about it based on just seeing the work. The list contains 27 points which can loosely relate to individual paintings, or link chronologically with a 27 minute routine trip. There are also psychology references which have informed the work. The format of the list was chosen for allowing an open interpretation.

Where to next?
I have many exciting ideas that I am developing in my studio that were generated from this exhibition – there is so much to do. I am very satisfied with how this show was put together, and have enjoyed visiting it many times already! It is on until the 30th of October.

What are you driving at? runs until Friday 30 October at Toi Pōneke Gallery, 61 Abel Smith Street.