Ed Povey
Elected to RCA 1993
Born London, 1951. Lives in Bangor, Gwynedd. Studied at the University of Wales and Eastbourne College of Art and Design.
Edward Povey has been described as a Symbolist, although this word does not satisfactorily encompass his oeuvre. Every painting is refined and adjusted until each object has meaning, its pose and placing,its colour and lighting all have significance,such that if you were to remove or add anything - it would diminish the overall composition. He shows us a world of waiting figures, grouped around tables or in orderly landscapes,enacting quiet ceremonies,playing discreet games in which their psychology reveals itself. The faces – turned in reverie, asleep or lost in contemplation,and the hands – indicating and signing, speaking a hidden language:this is the vocabulary with which he unfolds the psyche.