Gary Stevens is an artist who creates performances and video installations, working with a wide range of visual artists and performers from diverse backgrounds. His solo & ensemble works have been presented internationally in gallery, theatre, festival and public spaces.
The major live work, since 1984, is the result of long, practical and material development; the structure, which often includes an elaborate text, grows out of this process. His unique use of text and speech in a visual art context is formal, yet seems casual. It describes and defines a fictive space and situation but the conspicuous invention confronts us with something real. The work is also about modes of thought; a psychology is often alien or animal and at odds with the audience/spectators and performer’s states of mind. It is critical and funny. The staging and productions are simple and stark, but the structures are rich, compelling and complex.
He won a Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Arts (1998), a Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts Award (New York) in 1996 and a One to One bursary from the Live Art Development Agency (2005). He has taught in many art schools as a regular visiting Visual Art and Performance tutor, including: Byam Shaw, Goldsmith’s, Middlesex and Wimbledon. He has been a tutor on the BA Fine Art course at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL since 2007. He ran a regular monthly performance Lab at Artsadmin from 1999-2009.
Video installation include Slow Life and Wake Up and Hide, which were commissioned and first shown at Matt’s Gallery, London in 2003 and 2007 respectively. Recent video installations Now and Again and Containment were both shown at Southampton City Art Gallery in 2012. He has toured internationally with live pieces such as Not Tony and Ape.
Gary is currently developing an ensemble performance for L’Avant Siene in Paris for 2014.
| Date | Title | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13–15 September 2019 | OUTBURST/ FFRWYDRAD | Llawn Festival | Llandudno |
| 21–24 June 2018 | Uno Di Noi | Inteatro Festival | Polverigi |
| 13 October 2016 | Artsadmin Archive: Gary Stevens | Toynbee Studios | |
| 6–7 May 2014 | L'Un De Nous (One of Us) | L'Avant Seine, Theatre de Colombes | Colombes |
| 6 March 2014 | Not Tony | Yorkshire Dance | Leeds |
| 27–28 June 2013 | Not Tony | Inteatro Villa Nappi Festival | Marche |
| 13 May 2013 | Not Tony | Nomadic Nights | Paris |
| 8 May 2013 | Not Tony | Mercat de les Flors | Barcelona |
| 26 January 2013 | Not Tony | Carte Blanche | Kortrijk |
| 27 October 2012 | Not Tony | Southampton City Art Gallery | Southampton |
| 14 September – 21 December 2012 | Now and Again | Southampton City Art Gallery | Southampton |
| 7 July 2012 | Not Tony / Robin Hood: The Stuff | Museum of Contemporary Art Artium | Vitoria-Gasteiz |
| 5 May 2012 | Not Tony | Tehdas Theatre | Turku |
| 20 October 2011 | Island/Not Tony | Toynbee Studios | |
| 16 June 2011 | Not Tony | In-Presentable Festival 2011, La Casa Encendida | Madrid |
| 15 June 2011 | Island | In-Presentable Festival 2011 La Casa Encendida | Madrid |
| 11 June – 17 July 2011 | WAKE / ARCHIPELAGO | Dilston Grove / Cafe Gallery | London |
| 20 April 2011 | Visual Thinking | Camden Arts Centre | London |
| 13 April 2011 | Visual Thinking | Camden Arts Centre | London |
| 27 November 2010 | Gary Stevens in conversation with Brian Catling | Museum of Modern Art Oxford | |
| 26 November 2010 | Island | Museum of Modern Art Oxford | |
| 30 September 2010 | Not Tony | Fundaçao Serralves | Porto |
| 25 September 2010 | Island | Vila do Conde Portugal | |
| 5–6 May 2010 | Island | BAC | London |
| 25 March 2010 | Playing A Part | Henry Moore Institute | |
| 1–4 July 2009 | Wake Up and Hide | Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona | |
| 25 May 2009 | Ape | The Junction, Cambridge | |
| 28 March 2009 | Artist talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 19–21 March 2009 | Ape | Walker Art Center | Minneapolis |
| 10 March 2009 | Ape | Exeter Phoenix | Exeter |
| 4–5 March 2009 | Ape | Leeds Met Studio Theatre | Leeds |
| 3 March 2009 | Ape | Alsager Arts Centre | Alsager |
| 26 February 2009 | Ape | The Point | Eastleigh |
| 24 February 2009 | Ape | Lakeside Theatre, Essex University | Colchester |
| 21 February 2009 | Artist Talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 13 February 2009 | Ape | National Review of Live Art ,The Arches | Glasgow |
| 24 January 2009 | Artist Talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 4–5 December 2008 | Ape | Royal Academy of Arts | London |
| 22 November 2008 | Artist Talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 17 October 2008 | A Chain of Events Called Bob | Slade Research Centre | London |
| 26 September 2008 | An Illustrated Talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 7 March 2008 | Not Tony | Centre d’Art Contemporain | Geneva |
| 7 March 2008 | Thought Bubble | Centre d’Art Contemporain | Geneva |
| 5–8 March 2008 | Slow Life | Centre d’Art Contemporain | Geneva |
| 20–22 November 2007 | Ape | Theatre 140 | Brussels |
| 6 October 2007 – 3 May 2008 | Performance Lab | Toynbee Studios | |
| 27 September – 23 December 2007 | Wake Up & Hide | Southampton City Art Gallery | Southampton |
| 20–25 August 2007 | Ape | Theatre Workshop | Edinburgh |
| 7–8 July 2007 | Flock | Ashford Town Centre | Ashford |
| 20–24 June 2007 | Ape | Toynbee Studios | |
| 23 May – 30 June 2007 | Wake Up & Hide | Birmingham | |
| 9–10 May 2007 | A Chain of Events Called Bob | Dilston Grove | London |
| 1 April 2007 | Artist talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 4 March 2007 | Artists Talk | Toynbee Studios | |
| 14 February 2007 | Gary Stevens Performance Lab | Toynbee Studios | |
| 24 January – 28 March 2007 | Wake Up & Hide | Matt's Gallery | London |
| 7 February 2006 | Not Tony and Thread | Various | |
| 31 January 2006 | Slow Life | Southampton City Art Gallery | Southampton |
| 15 January 2006 | Not Tony | Kettles Yard, Cambridge | Cambridge |
