The Art of No Noise
Kevin Devonport Art
Book out now
TRANSFORMATION
On Display Now
Featured Work
What is Art?
Eye of the Beholder
Open your Mind
Nothing but Absurdity
The Mirror of Virtue
This painting is rubbish
The Facade of Hedonism
I am Everybody and Everybody is Me
Make Love and War
Have a Coke and a smile
To purchase artwork please contact email: kevdevonport71@gmail.com
–
Exhibitions
Thursday October 3rd opening tab 5.00pm at Brokers Wine Bar, Leadenhall Market in Central London ‘Nothing Ordinary Here’ an exhibition showcasing a number of my paintings.
In January 2025 The Art of Protest Gallery in York will also be showing my work in a month long exhibition.
Kevin Devonport
Artist Bio
Kevin Devonport is an Award-winning UK emerging artist, currently based at Assembly House studios in Leeds. It could be said that he has had a somewhat unorthodox entry into the Artworld as he originally learnt to paint whilst serving a prison sentence for drug offences. Art has therefore had a significant impact on Kevin’s life by allowing him to re-invent himself as an Artist. Despite not having any formal artistic qualifications, he does hold a First-Class Honours BSc in Sociology that does have an influence on much of his work. In the short time he has become an Artist he has become increasingly recognised. He won a national Koestler award, whilst in prison, for painting at London’s South Bank Centre and since has gained other awards: The Leonardo de Vinci International artist award in Florence, The Olympic art prize 2021 and The Carravagio Master Artist award presented in Milan. His work has now featured across the UK and Europe in a number of prominent exhibitions; with his story and artworks being covered extensively within the UK press.
Kevin Devonport
The Art of No Noise
Featured on BBC
News and Case Studies
Un soldado que pasó 13 años en la cárcel por traficar con heroína se convierte en un artista internacional premiado: “Es como si la vida me hubiera dirigido hacia ese camino”
“Miraba y admiraba, pero nunca pensé que podría hacerlo yo mismo. Nunca fui una persona realmente artística” ha confesado el artista “I watched and admired, but I never thought I could do it myself. I was never a really artistic person,” the artist confessed. Read more here
The Yorkshire Post – Former Leeds drug dealer who taught himself to paint in prison opens first exhibit
Former Leeds drug dealer who taught himself to paint in prison opens first exhibit But now Kevin Devonport, a former drug dealer from Leeds who taught himself to paint in prison, has opened his latest exhibition in the capital, reflecting on his experiences through his artwork. Read full article on The Yorkshire Post website (click...
BBC News – ‘Prison turned me into an award-winning artist’
'Prison turned me into an award-winning artist' Victoria ScheerRole,BBC News Online 3 November 2024 A former soldier who became a heroin dealer is now a successful artist after finding his passion while serving a 13-year prison sentence. Kevin Devonport spiralled into criminality after he left the Army aged 21 and he struggled with drug...
Big Issue 1638 – Featuring Kevin Devonport
THE_BIG_ISSUE_1638 21-27 October 2024
UK artist Kevin Devonport to open new exhibition ‘Nothing Ordinary Here’ within Leadenhall Market
Award-winning, Yorkshire-born artist Kevin Devonport is set to unveil his latest exhibition, ‘Nothing Ordinary Here’, at Brokers Wine Bar in Leadenhall Market on October 3rd. The exhibition will feature 12 paintings, exploring themes of consumerism, materiality, and identity. Kevin’s journey into art is an unconventional one, having learnt to...
The Flux Review – Kevin Devonport – Q&A
Self-taught or art school? I am a self-taught artist. I learned to paint whilst serving a prison sentence for drug offences so, therefore, discovered my ability to paint quite late on in life. I do however think that an artistic streak was in me as I have always enjoyed visiting galleries etc. but just never imagined I could do it myself. Whilst...
Interview with Kevin Devonport – Artit
"I never envisioned myself becoming an artist and painted purely as a past time and a means of escapism." In this intimate and revealing interview, we delve into the extraordinary life of Kevin Devonport, an artist whose journey defies conventional paths. Born in Leeds and having experienced the tumultuous worlds of the military, the drug scene,...
Former Leeds drug dealer who started painting in prison is now successful artist
A self-confessed career criminal from Leeds who taught himself to paint while serving one of numerous prison sentences for drugs offences is now a full time artist whose work has featured in exhibitions across the UK. Kevin Devonport, who grew up in Swarcliffe and Seacroft, left school with no qualifications and got his first criminal conviction...
Ex-convict turns life around with hobby he picked up behind bars
A criminal who wracked up jail sentences totalling 24 years after a number of drug-related offences has managed to turn his life around. Introduced to the art of painting while behind bars, 49-year-old Kevin Devenport is now an established and professional artist. What's more, the ex-convict from Yorkshire now wants to help raise money for a...
Testimonials
Kevin Devonport’s artistic journey is truly fascinating. His figuration has international influences. He creates works that belong to his life diary. Very interesting is the choice of subjects to represent. Here we find two very different subjects, which however are united by the fact that they both convey enormous feelings. A very sophisticated technique, which is leading Kevin more and more towards international goals.
Salvatore Russo (Italian Art Critic and Curator).
Kevin Devonport: Review by Tabish Khan
If humanity ends and future explorers look for what we left behind, will it be our fantastic art and architecture that they uncover or will it be a Coca-Cola bottle that refuses to decompose? Kevin Devonport’s hyper-realist paintings look outwards to society’s addiction to consumerism, bright colours and branded products. Yet he also looks inwards letting a pair of trainers stand in for himself and in a work featuring Campbell’s soup cans and a pair of knuckle-dusters he references both his criminal past and the influence of art that’s taken him away from his former life to one of creating beauty every day from the everyday.
-Tabish Khan