Over the course of six decades, Frank Bowling has relentlessly pursued a practice which boldly expands the possibilities and properties of paint. Ambitious in scale and scope, his dynamic engagement with the materiality of his chosen medium, and its evolution in the broad sweep of art history, has resulted in paintings of unparalleled originality and power. For the artist's first presentation at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, coinciding with Zurich Art Weekend, the exhibition presents recent abstract paintings made mostly during the lockdown in 2020. Following a period of ill health for the artist, the works trace the renewed energy and dynamism that Bowling channelled in the studio during his recovery.
Born in Guyana in 1934, Bowling arrived in London in 1953, graduating from the Royal College of Art with the silver medal for painting in 1962. Today Bowling's mastery of the painted medium and explorations of light, colour, and geometry incorporate the use of ammonia and multi-layered washes. His restless reinvention of the painted plane endures in his current bodies of work on view in Zurich, which continue to break new ground through his use of thick impasto textures, acrylic gels, collage, stitched canvas and metallic and pearlescent pigments. At the age of 87, Bowling works every day in his South London studio, accompanied by his wife, Rachel, other family members and friends, forever driven by his fascination with exploring the vast and radiant possibilities of paint.
Press release courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
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