The World According to Tev (2023)

Tev is a self-employed painter based in Guildford, whose work explores pop culture and personal curiosity with a healthy balance of self-indulgence whilst still giving his growing audience what they want.

With an impressively consistent production rate, the artist favours acrylic paint as his medium for its accessibility, affordability and highly saturated colours, which allow him to achieve his lively signature style. 

Creative from a young age, the painter recalls art being an incredibly valuable part of his childhood.

 “My Mum would always give me crayons and some paper when out at dinner… I’ve always drawn and doodled, I find it very therapeutic but I didn’t pursue it or take it seriously at school. Secondary school in particular stomped out my desire to create anything as it was very academic”. He went as far as to argue with his teachers who would try to restrict his creativity in a bid to appeal to the marking criteria.

“I’ve become so feverishly passionate about creating art for myself.”

This rejection of policing creativity is evident in Tev’s work to date. His irreverent style harks back to innocent teen scrawlings, only dialled up to the max. The graphic colours and use of text are also reminiscent of old comic books. When asked about his influences, Tev confirmed the importance of cartoons and comics in his work. 

“I was always big into cartoons and still am to an extent, again this plays back to when I was young. Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, SpongeBob… if I was watching it, I was learning to draw it!”

Admittedly ill-versed in art history, Tev is still keen to educate himself on the greats. He lists Dalí, Basquiat, Picasso (especially his Cubist work) and Francis Bacon to name a few artists he's familiar with - quickly admitting they're the only few he knows.

The few he knows have been more than enough though, leading him to create pieces inspired by these artists as part of his exploration into their work. Basquiat in particular has been important in Tev’s artistic development. Initially parroting Basquiat’s style in a bid to appeal to the masses, he found little success. Reinforcing the importance of sincerity in art and not getting sidetracked by profits. He continues featuring text in his pieces, credited to his time exploring Basquiat. Using text to note down passing thoughts and feelings during the throes of painting, it appears that documenting life is an integral part of Tev’s process.

I stumbled across Tev’s work on Instagram (@tevdoggg) and was quickly invested in his journey as an artist. He was on a mission to grow his profile, grateful for every interaction and seemingly eating, sleeping and breathing art. Pictures of his work were posted alongside selfies, Spotify screenshots and pics of that evening's dinner. Showing creativity as part of a seemingly well-rounded lifestyle.

Tev notes Jack Kabangu (@jaackkabangu) as a source of inspiration when it comes to his presence on social media. Kabangu posts images that provide context to his creative outputs, or as Tev expressed it, he posts with “creative intention”.

This seems to be a popular trend amongst Gen Z as a whole. It makes sense that the trend of photo dumping has integrated itself into many artists' processes, especially as art is a form of self-expression for many of us, we want people to be curious. Whether it be about our painting or the crumpets that sustained us through producing it. By nature, it has also cultivated a group of followers (including myself) who are curious about and invested in Tev’s journey as an artist. 

Although creative from a young age, Tev began pursuing art independently during the COVID-19 pandemic. With all 8 flatmates isolating, the artist took the plunge and started painting and posting to social media. He beams, “Once I made my first painting, I was completely hooked. The feeling of gratification was so huge. It was a painting of a clown with a very big gloopy frown and it’s one of my most cherished pieces.”

Since then, Tev has produced a wade of vibrant pieces, exploring several different styles and subjects. Recently, he's begun scouring through old sketchbooks to develop ideas he'd since forgotten. With an emphasis on creating affordable art, he's begun focussing his efforts on smaller canvases to allow people to invest in his pieces and, by proxy, allow him to continue creating.

Currently looking for full-time work, Tev has no intention of slowing down - telling us of a potential work trip abroad to Berlin in 2024 that would provide rich inspiration for his pursuits. Upon graduating from university this year, he shared “I think it’s time for me to grow and move further out of my comfort zone, I think this will ring true with my art where I’m going to set myself new goals for the next year and achieve some great things.”

Tev’s long-term plan is to be a full-time artist with his own studio. Creating art at his leisure and making a living doing so. Undeterred by his ‘later start’ he states, “I’m glad I started when I did but it is going to take a lot of effort and persistence to get there but I know that I will make it work”. It speaks volumes to the current climate that pursuing passions in your early 20s is seen as a late start when it is truly just the beginning, and what a fun start it has been.

“You may think you’ve seen it all from Tev but I’m just getting warmed up baby!!!”