2019 Catalogue Archive

Frank Bowling OBE RA was born in Guyana in 1936 and moved to London in 1953. He attended the Royal College of Art in 1959, and in 1966 he moved to New York. It was there that he met legendary art critic Clement Greenberg who encouraged his pursuit of Modernist notions of color and process. Now in his 80s, the artist is still in his studio every day experimenting with a variety of processes – pouring, staining, collaging, and stenciling, among others – to push the boundaries of paintings and realize his artistic vision. Recently, Bowling’s inspiration comes from places that remain fixed in his mind, and he uses memory as both the tool and subject matter in creating his work. Here, two skulls hover over expressive splatters and washes of paint, suggesting a comment on mortality. Horizontal bands conjure the landscape, a recurring motif in Bowling’s work for decades. Bowling’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at numerous public institutions, and in 2015 his work was on view at the Dallas Museum of Art in Frank Bowling: Map Paintings.