LAURENCE LLEWELYN-BOWEN ART
BIOGRAPHY
LLB’s prodigious artistic talent was obvious at a very early age. Rather than cartoons, comic books or juvenile graphics he developed a profound interest in a range of artistic traditions from the Pre Raphaelites to Japanese silk painting and from classical Hellenistic statuary to high Victorian fairy paintings.
At Alleyns School in Dulwich his polymathic intellect meant time for art had to be carved out of a busy academic schedule that revolved around Latin, Classical Civillisations, English Literature, Human Sciences and Renaissance Art History. Whilst at school he quickly became the go-to Art Director for most school productions, no small achievement in an institution that has always been celebrated for the excellence of its Dramatic arts.
His artistic style flowered into a riotous and decadant aesthetic propelled by a deep interest in fin de siecle artists Aubrey Beardsley, Georges de Feure, Alophonse Mucha and Ferdinand Khnopff. His distinctly titillating and elegantly confrontational work was extremely popular with fellow pupils.
Despite considerable exam success LLB made the decision to abandon any thought of intellectual further education in favour of Art School. As a 16year old he was unusually young for this next step which was only possible because LLB had successfully gained Alevels in Art Art History and AO levels in Theatre History and Classical Civillisations at the same time as his
O-levels.
For the next four years LLB received the sort of ultra traditional, exhaustively technical Fine Art training that young artists would have enjoyed in the studios of 19th Century Florentine Academies.
His work began to crystallise into a much more painterly aesthetic using Renaissance and 18th century artistic tropes in gigantic overscaled pieces. Eroticism thrummed through his highly energised paintings that very much struck a chord with the Campy Vampy cognascenti of New Romantic early 80s London.
Whilst at college LLB continued to art direct. From Fashion shoots to College Fashion Shows and Advertising campaigns. Former school colleagues were quick to commission what became highly acclaimed stage productions. His Doctor Faustus for Oxford University Dramatic society was garnished with references to Frederico Fellini whilst his Dulcima for Acclaimed Opera Director Tim Hopkins at the Cambridge university operatic society turned cosy William Morris patterns into a carnivorous vegetative nightmare. LLB then designed a production of the Jar for the same Company and Director that captivated that particular year’s Edinburgh festival.
After Art School LLB signed a contract with the crucial gallery in Notting Hill one of London’s most achingly fashionable 1980s artistic hubs. His work hung alongside artists like Andrew Logan and furniture designers such as Mark Brazier Jones. He featured as one of the London Faces in the Seiko Japan 1986 iconic advertising campaign.
By the early 1990s LLB had become a highly sought after Fine Artist Designer specialising in elaborate mural schemes as part of an overall LLB designed interior. There are plenty of grandiose Drawing Rooms in Knightsbridge or Mayfair that yet still boast an LLB cherubic ceiling or a neo baroque Vudato either side the chimney breast.
Three highly acclaimed survivors from LLB’s 1990s portfolio are The Richmond theatre where he assisted the great theatre design luminary Carl Toms; The Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly, London’s oldest surving theatrical interior still resplendant in LLB dark pink and the Ambassadors Theatre. All still boast elaborate LLB decorative paintings,
By the mid 1990s LLB’s reputation as a a rising star of London’s Design scene caught the interest of the BBC who were planning a crazy reboot of their exsisting highly successful Ready Steady Cook culinary format but rejigged for Home Design. Changing Rooms was born with LLB very much at its front and centre.
