Art has always a part of Kevan's life. At the age of16, he was accepted at Wigan College of Art, England, after which he pursued studies at Victoria University of Manchester graduating with a commendation in Visual arts and qualifications in Education.
After he, and his family, arrived in Townsville, North Queensland, he became Head of the Art Department at a private high school. His time in the tropics led him to explore the effect of brilliant sunlight on colour in local flora and fauna.
This fascination with ‘play of light’ has been an unceasing inspiration, of scientific proportions, a life-long challenge, that led him to paint ‘living art’ in a range of media before focusing on watercolour. “I eliminated black and white from my palette in order to produce the vibrancy and depth I required to truly reflect tropical colour”. A deliberate composition of flora and fauna in their typical environment, and an acute attention to detail, is an integral part of his work, where all elements speak of truth and photorealism. Many of his paintings are produced on a larger than life scale to emphasise the magnificence of the subject. The grandness of the paintings sits comfortably in large spaces.
In 1998 family commitments brought him to Brisbane, Queensland, and to the serendipitous discovery of Samford Valley, which provided natural inspiration for recent works. Over the years, he developed a discerning eye, a mastery of colour analysis ,and a painting technique which gives his paintings a quality that the viewer is able to connect with.
His work is represented in numerous private collections and business houses in Australia, U.K., New Zealand, Japan, Korea, USA and Canada. A number of paintings form part of the National Collection by Art Bank. He has written a number of articles about his watercolour work for the Australian Artist Magazine. (2012 and 2013)
Since leaving the teaching profession, he has expanded my use of medium, painting in oils. Portraits, Still life, and figurative street scapes are favourite subjects. He also gathers inspiration from his travels to UK, USA, Italy and France.
Works in progress can be seen on his instagram account kevanrigbyart .
Awards:
2023 - On=line finalist in the Lethbridge 20000 small works award.
2022 - Finalist in Moreton Bay Regional Art Awards.
2022 - Finalist in the Kennedy Art Prize.
2021 - Finalist in the Kennedy Art Prize
2020 - Finalist in Clayton Utz Art Award for ‘The Night Florist”
2018 - Finalist in the Percival Portrait prize for ‘Another World” A portrait of his grandson.
2018 - Gallery finalist Lethbridge 20 000 for ‘TeK. July 2021a and Biscuits’
2017 - Special Merit in Light and Space Online Gallery -7th Annual 'Botanicals' Competition for 'Frangipani Cluster".
2017 - Online finalist Lethbridge 10 000 small works
2016 - Finalist with commendation award in Lethbridge 10 000 Small Works with a watercolour painting titled 'Le Scarpe Delle Donne'
2012 - 1st Prize in Australian Artists Magazine Art Prize Challenge no 48 with a watercolour painting titled 'Tibouchina'.
1980s - Commendation in the use of colour in the Pacific Festival art competition for a painting titled 'Banana palms'.
Exhibition and review quotes:
“My experience in handling Rigby’s work leads me to recommend it highly to any prospective purchaser or exhibitor.” Dorothy Wellington - Cairns “The works are of an extremely high technical standard and display an acute observational realism.”
“He gives his images a degree of exactness that you feel you can almost touch them.”
"Kevan"s work is inspired, and perfectly executed. He chooses subjects that matter now and in the future and is one of the finest artists I've had the joy to come across. He is a retro contemporary, with a keen eye and has obviously worked hard, but is also a 'natural'.
Karen Townsend Artist/Illustrator/Writer UK