Finishing 26 May 2024
Two weeks ago I was in the beautiful Bavarian town of Weiden in South East Germany, which is hosting a fantastic exhibition of the art work of the late Kevin Coyne – musician… painter/ illustrator… writer… performer… talent extraordinaire, who sadly left us in 2004 – twenty years ago.
Now if not taken from us at the age of sixty Kevin would have been 80 this year.
Kevin’s legacy lives on through his prolific musical output – over forty albums, as well as books of short stories and a thousand paintings and sketches. (One of which I now proudly own..) a staggering output Turner would have appreciated.
Was it worth the travelling? Yes it was!!! A superb exhibition – like a special concert – it’s worth travelling the distance for, in my opinion – so I did.
Weiden and its very hospitable Kunstverein Gallery Kurator Stefan Voit have done Kevin proud by bringing to life Kevin’s kaleidoscopic vision of the world, spreading it in a non sequential but effective way across half a dozen large white walls in what feels like the loft space of Lower East Side – New York studio circa 1950s – more, than an antiseptic Bond Street Gallery…
Even comfy with giant bean-bags… and a pocket size bar for those who fancy a drink… Returning to Kevin… What do you say about his art?…
Sometimes Kevin’s view of the world is playful in an Edward Lear/Mervyn Peake way – other times it sits comfortably (or should that be uncomfortably) in the artist home of German Weimar Expressionism – Max Beckmann – Otto Dix and Erich Heckel………………………….. flitting
across the gallery walls from the lightest to the darkest shades /moods….. gargoyles and angels… birds and faces and snow falling heavily across a blackened window..Anton.. Artaud/ Ezra Pound portraits… and not forgetting fantastic animals!
It is as if in every space and corner of the walls light was swept away by a darker vision of people and places, and Kevin had us ripping out pages of the psychoanalyst’s textbook… trying to fathom what was going on Kevin’s head…/ imagination…………………………………………. Will we ever
know??? I doubt it. But the quest to understand is an exotic journey.
Kevin’s personal inner world was one of extremes/ complexities…. snatches of life, one
minute in joy, next in despair…… snapshots of a life that knows Dante’s Hell as well asAlice’s Wonderland…
Kevin found a new life in Germany (1985), stopped drinking alcoholically and sober continued creating musically and visually – an artist dervish leaping from one means of expression to another… like a magician plucking something new and enchanting from the air…
One of the first things you notice is that the curator of the gallery Stefan Voit (who is also the main guardian/ promotor of Kevin’s work in Germany) has not tried to hang the paintings and illustrations in any chronological order or in an artistic formal way – i.e. paintings on one wall, illustrations on another… it’s random rather than haphazard… it creates a sweeping effect with the imagery and the lights and darkness of the subject matter… A circus of imagery parading across the white wall.
Kevin according to his widow Helmi whom I met in Nuremberg the day after the show: “Kevin never stopped drawing and painting…day and night.. especially when he gave up drinking and smoking.”Add to that the non stop composing and touring / writing… Kevin was a non stop force of artistic nature. Unequalled in my reviewing experience.
Fortunately for us, Kevin didn’t restrict himself to one or the other genres but graced us with his amazing music/performing… as well as the writing he loved so much, giving us three very entertaining books some of which Kevin illustrated himself… In my collection I have ‘ Show Business ‘ and the illustrated ‘The Party Dress ‘…The other book is ‘The Old Suburban Angst ‘ and a comedic take on Elvis only available in Italian.’ I Elvis And The Others ‘…
Kevins’s creating reminds you of one of those Italian Futurist paintings (think Giacomo Balla – ‘Dog on a Leash’ )where movement is seen as a blur… rapid shutter speed motion…non stop expression!
You can imagine Kevin’s hands racing from the guitar strings to the paintbrush/ pencil via the author’s disappearing white page… no pauses just a burst of creative activity sweeping effortlessly from one means of expression to another – Kevin the genius at work.
According to Steffan Radlmaier’s German language biography Kevin started to draw in the coal cellar as a young boy where he would retreat to escape the pressures of a very lively, sometimes overwhelming family situation. Later after finishing school Kevin would go to to Art School in Derby….Drawings from that period, as I said earlier, show a remarkable number of artistic influences that would coalesce into a style which would later be recognised as unmistakably Kevin’s work.
There was always music in Kevin’s family background.
His father played in a jazz band and his sister became an opera singer… Kevin was no stranger to the Rock and Roll music that he grew up with in the post War years… and played in bands that would have been familiar with all the Rock and Roll classics.
It was later at the Joseph Wright Art School that Kevin met Nick Cudworth and they forged a musical alliance that would later go on to create the band Siren…
But aside from non stop composing, often on the spot (with the same stand-up ad-lib his favourite Northern comedians would employ) and using his original playing style – with the guitar laid flat and his thumb strumming the strings… his voice raw and bluesy, Kevin created his unique music.
On the Sunday before I left Germany to return to England, after a very successful visit to Bavaria…I met up with Kevin’s widow Helmi who now lives in Nuremberg….
We had a quiet meal together and chatted.
I had made it clear before we arranged to meet, that it wouldn’t be an interview. Just to say hello and introduce myself…
I shared a few recollections of the time I met Kevin in 1979 for an interview after a gig in Folkestone…
Since like me at the time Kevin had a drink problem… , the interview never got done. Despite the failure to deliver to the local Folkestone Herald we had a great evening talking about our shared experiences working in ‘Asylums’ in the 1970’s …
Helmi still holds the fondest memories of her life with Kevin and is happy that people still love all his art ventures and that someone like Stefan Voit will carry on, as long as he can, keeping Kevin’s legacy alive…
I’m sure there will be more exhibitions of Kevin’s art in Europe…
Two have been planned already and another one is being negotiated in Belgium. Unfortunately nothing is planned in the UK at the moment…
The chances of that happening seem very slim…(Brexit !)
I learned a bit more about Kevin’s life in Germany from Helmi.
Kevin’s battle to overcome his addiction to alcohol/ smoking and the sober productive years that followed…
It seems so cruel that having regained his health after such a self-destructive lifestyle, that it would be a fatal lung condition that would take his life so early at the age of sixty… I should imagine that if there is such a place as heaven, then Kevin is up there feverishly doing what he always did … sketching,drawing, composing and writing at his customary rapid shutter speed delivery.
I would like to thank all those people who made my visit to Bavaria successful… very welcoming and offering amazing hospitality throughout my stay.
Especially Stefan Voit and his wife Anett. And also Klaus who helped to hang the Exhibition together with Stefan.
Big thank you from Michel (Faber) and I, for all the copies of Kevin and Robert Coyne’s music that Stefan generously gifted to us…
Malcolm Paul May 2024
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