Annie Kevans

Annie Kevans (born Cannes, France) is an English artist who paints series of 'portraits' that explore sometimes controversial concepts and alternative histories.

In an interview for Running in Heels, Polly Allen says: "Growing up in a family of fearless and high-achieving women, [Kevans] describes herself as “a natural feminist.

It wasn’t even a question for me.” She could take her pick from role models, such as her two great-aunts (Eleanor, one of the first female bosses in the UK who worked in the male-dominated gas industry, and Trubody, who was a spy and a member of MI6 with a Bronze Star Medal for bravery).

"[2] The 30 paintings from the series Boys, from Kevans' BA Degree show at Central Saint Martins, were bought in their entirety by Charles Saatchi in 2004.

[8] These paintings showed 20th Century tyrants, dictators and war criminals such as Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Radovan Karadžić as young children.

[1] The series received positive reviews when it was shown at the Saatchi Gallery in London in 2013 and was described as "the highlight of a new exhibition called, simply, Paper" by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.

[12] The Sunday Times said: "the portraits are all somewhat suggestive: [Britney] Spears is depicted in her bra, while [Brooke] Shields is shown at 12, when she became famous as a hooker in the film Pretty Baby".

Kevans' next solo exhibition, entitled Swans, shown in June 2007 at 319 Portobello Road, focused on the "American Dream" and included an image of Jessica Dubroff, a seven-year-old pilot who was attempting to become the youngest person to fly an airplane across the United States.

[16] In September 2007, Kevans exhibited a new series of paintings she had been working on, called Vamps and Innocents, for a solo show in Vienna, based on the silent films of the 1920s and its stars.

"[17] Continuing on with her interest in reinvention and manipulation, Kevans painted the WAMPAS Baby Stars series in 2009, portraying starlets selected for stardom by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, between 1922 and 1934.

[18] Kevans's solo exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 2009 featured successful men and women who have been dogged by depression, eating disorders, addiction and other forms of mental illnesses.

"I've always been interested in madness – there's a lot of it in my family," says Kevans, who was inspired by medieval images of European towns shipping their deranged inhabitants out to sea.

[20] The series featured presidential mistresses and Kevans highlighted the manipulation of truth in the recording of history as well as in the creation of status and authority in ordinary men.

[6] The International Art Newspaper reviewed the exhibition of "beautifully executed paintings"[21] depicting all the mistresses of US presidents including Monica Lewinsky and Marilyn Monroe, and commented the show was "pulling in the crowds".

The works looked at issues surrounding racial conflict in the US and the ongoing denial of the horrors of slavery, at a time when the US elected its first black president.

I am delighted Kevans is now taking part in the exhibition tour.”[25] The work was shown at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and then in Paris at Le Grand Palais in April 2015.

The muses are Tanel Bedrossiantz, Christine Bergstrom, David Bowie, Boy George, Naomi Campbell, Lily Cole, Tim Curry, Agyness Deyn, Beth Ditto, Jourdan Dunn, Karen Elson, Aitize Hanson, Farida Khelfa, Fredérique Lorca, Madonna, Françis Menuge, Kate Moss, Kristen McMenamy, Kylie Minogue, Erin O'Connor, Rossy de Palma, Jade Parfitt, Gaultier’s Grandmother Marie, Micheline Presle, Stella Tennant, Andrej Pejic, Anna Pawlowski, Stéphane Sednaoui, Dita von Teese and Amy Winehouse.

[27] One writer described the series as "both a “thank you” to the women who have been inspirational to Kevans’ own career and a pithy “fuck you” to the historians and curators who continue to downplay their role in art history... when viewed as a collection, the numerous paintings combine to broadcast a powerful message that betrays their illusory simplicity ... Who knew pretty little portraits could be so empowering?".