Frank Bowling RA
Born: 29 February 1936, Guyana
Elected RA: 26 May 2005
Category of Membership: Painter
Frank Bowling moved from Guyana to London in 1950. He won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art in 1959 and graduated in 1962 with both a Silver Medal in Painting and a travel scholarship which took him to South America and the Caribbean. He was a contributing editor at Arts Magazine from 1969 to 1972. Bowling has held teaching positions at many institutions, including lectureships at the University of Reading and Columbia University.
Frank Bowling RA, Homage (1934—2005)
Bowling's early work was figurative and often described as expressionist. In the mid 1960s Bowling's paintings became more geometric. He moved to New York in 1966 and his work became overtly abstract as he began to concentrate on purely pictorial issues relating to colour and composition. This transition from figuration to abstraction was accompanied by new working methods. Bowling's paintings became larger and he abandoned the easel, often pinning his canvases to his studio walls or floor.
Bowling was a leading Color Field painter and colour dominated his work in the 1970s. The earthier hues of his figurative palette gave way to an exploration of high-key and lyrical colour. Spontaneity and chance became important working methods in the mid to late 1970s and Bowling began referring to his work as 'poured paintings'. Bowling's recent work utilises a full range of colour and is marked by the artist’s periods of often intense experimentation with surface texture. Bowling maintains working studios in London and New York.
Recent solo exhibitions
2008 Poussin Gallery, London
2007 Peg Alston Fine Arts, New York
The Arts Club, London
2006 ArtSway, Hampshire
Rollo Contemporary Art, London
G R N'Namdbi Gallery, Chicago and New York
2005 Peg Alston Fine Arts, New York
G R N'Namdbi Gallery, Chicago
1997 The Skylight Gallery at Restoration Plaza, Brooklyn
1971 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Contact details for further information
Email membershipoffice@royalacademy.org.uk
