Image courtesy of the Sir Frank Bowling website
Sir Frank Bowling RA moved to London in 1953, where his career began shortly after his arrival at the Royal College of Art (1959-62). Initially working as a figurative painter, Bowling's subject matter was both personal and political. Relocating to New york in 1966, Bowling made a considered turn towards abstraction. During this time he developed a process-based practice; exploring the nature and possibilities of paint with his monumental colour field paintings he cemented his importance the New York art scene. In the following years, his work became increasingly geometrically complex. Guided by principals of mathematics and symmetry, in then early 1980s, geometric ideas came to influence, not just his subject matter, but the way he physically worked with the canvas. Using Styrofoam his canvasses became progressively sculptural, an aesthetic that characterises Bowling's current output. His recent work continues to investigate the formal and emotional qualities of abstract painting. A much-loved contemporary British painter, Bowling's work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Tate Britain, London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Haus der Kunst, Munich; and the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol.
