English artist Trevor Brown (Trevor Brown): biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Trevor Brown was once asked in an interview: "Why are you so cruel to the little girls in your canvases?". "This is not cruelty at all! I call my work misanthropy!" - that's what the scandalous artist replied, smiling sweetly.

Trevor Brown - who is he

What makes this man so famous? Trevor Brown is an outrageous artist from England. He prefers to shock the public with the depiction of violence, Satanism and childish sexuality in his paintings. Despite such a terrifying, unusual sight, there were also fans of the artist's work. As for the style of the canvases, for the most part they resemble the traditional features of pop art. However, Trevor himself combined his own paintings into a single style, which he later called baby art.

A show or a nightmare

While Trevor Brown's work is truly provocative, that's what really makes it stand out. Just the terrible things depicted on the canvases of the artist are striking, attracting the eye and causing some interest. Trevor's art is a kind of mid-eastern and western popcultures. An English artist has managed to extract an unusual urban style from these poorly combined cultures, resulting in a bright exciting mixture - catchy sexual fantasies expressed through Asian schoolgirls.

Trevor Brown's biography

How did the creative path of an extravagant artist begin? Trevor Brown was born in the capital of England. After graduating from art school, the guy followed the traditional path of most modern illustrators - he got a job in a small design studio. For several years, the future artist worked in various advertising agencies and design workshops. So Trevor became a highly sought after advertising illustrator in London at a very young age. In the late 80s, Brown fell into the ranks of a radical underground organization of artists. By illustrating several popular records and albums, artist Trevor Brown has gained cherished popularity.

Over time, the outrageous illustrator got tired of the measured and absolutely calm rhythm of the life of the British. The hypocrisy and dullness of the English nation became boring to the artist, he became uninterested in the culture of this country. So Brown became actively interested in Japanese art and oriental heritage. During this period, the London illustrator met the musician Masami Akita and entered into a correspondence with him. Talking with his new friend, Trevor gradually began to explore the field of modern experimental music, and he really liked it.

Life in Japan

InterestTrevor Brown's interest in Japanese culture grew every day, and in the early 90s he still managed to escape from boring England and move to a colorful Asian country. There, the artist got used to it very quickly, acquired regular customers and even gained popularity among local art connoisseurs. Trevor Brown's paintings began to be published in Japanese art publications, and galleries in the Land of the Rising Sun opened their doors to the illustrator.

In just a few years of living in Tokyo, the artist married a famous geisha. His work in the vastness of Japan has become truly popular, and the illustrator has become in demand. Gradually, Trevor became very close with musicians involved in experimental work, which significantly affected the artist's art at that time.

Soon, Brown's work began to be published in pornographic magazines, and the artist chose Japanese girls as his constant source of inspiration, the image of which on Trevor's canvases today terrifies the audience of galleries.

Brown Style

In his art, artist Trevor Brown combines the main features of Western and Eastern cultures. It was he who became the founder of a new direction in modern art, which he called baby art. Having created sexual works in current art, Trevor Brown combined pornography, satanic torture, Japanese schoolgirls, sadomasochism, pop art outlines, pedophilia, dolls and medical fetishism in his paintings. For a simple layman, this combination will surely seem at leastinadequate. However, in Trevor Brown's view, his work presents the public with his own view of girlish sexuality.

The artist was inspired by Asian schoolgirls, who are still praised in Japan today. In fact, among Japanese men there is a whole cult dedicated specifically to schoolgirls. For some reason, very young girls there become real celebrities, uniting in musical groups, dance groups and theater troupes. Japanese men are captivated by various spectacles with the participation of girls, such events are always extremely cheerful and bright. So Trevor drew his inspiration from the Japanese cult of schoolgirls. True, the essence of his work is completely not subject to modest Eastern principles.

Images on Trevor's canvases

A generalized image of the work of the artist Trevor Brown can be called a Japanese schoolgirl dressed in a classic plaid skirt with her hands tied. Or a very small naked girl with a lollipop in her mouth, surrounded by all sorts of toys and symbols of the phallus. Almost all of his paintings depict some kind of violence, phallic symbols, naked girls and toys. Visually, all this chaos does not in any way fit into a single composition united by some specific theme. Maybe that's why Trevor is credited with the pop art style.

Brown is often accused of pedophilia and love of everything violent. However, from this, the illustrator's interest in his own work onlygrew up The more often Trevor's work was banned, the more he wanted to portray something more harsh and unacceptable.

Artist's work

To understand the depth of Brown's work, his illustrations must first be seen. During his rather eventful career in the field of art, which has been going on for more than a decade, the artist has earned a truly cult status. Oddly enough, his devastating paintings have graced all sorts of underground publications, books and albums, T-shirts, records and even greeting cards in large numbers. Trevor has illustrated album covers for popular bands Coil, John Zorn, Deicide, Kayo Dot, Whitehouse, Venetian Snares.

Among other things, the artist's creative baggage contains many prohibited illustrations by Trevor Brown, which never saw the light of day. For example, one of these works was a French book called Alice in the Garden of Evil, which was illustrated by Brown. This edition has not been approved for sale.

In 2008, Brown became a party to a lawsuit that protected his copyright. The conflict escalated due to the fact that the famous band Crystal Castles began to use Trevor's illustrations without his permission. In the same year, the case was stopped on the basis of a financial agreement between the parties.

At home, the artist's art caused a mixed reaction from the English audience and the media. It also influenced Trevor's decision to leave London for good and travel to Tokyo.

Often Browncompared with the famous Mark Ryden, who also preferred to use children's characters and a variety of manifestations of violence, suffering and pain. However, the artist himself, of course, denies the similarity with Mark, insisting on his own uniqueness and individuality.

English artist today

Now Brown's work is considered an integral part of Japanese art. For many years, Trevor has been married to a geisha who supports her husband in every possible way. He is one of the most active participants in the design of prestigious Japanese pornographic publications. In addition, Brown collaborates with popular underground periodicals in Europe and America. True, despite successful cooperation, paintings by Trevor Brown are still prohibited from being imported into many European countries.