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Artworks
Frank Bowling
Watermelon Bight, 2020Acrylic297.2 x 185.4 x 4.5 cm£756,000Further images
Guyana-born artist Frank Bowling is known for his abstract paintings, characterised by a distinctive sensuality and bold use of colour. Having studied at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney and RB Kitaj, Bowling’s early work in the 1950s and ‘60s was resolutely figurative and explored social and political narratives. After a move to New York in the mid-1960s his paintings became increasingly abstract, complex and expressive.
Guyana-born artist Frank Bowling is known for his abstract paintings, characterised by a distinctive sensuality and bold use of colour. Having studied at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney and RB Kitaj, Bowling’s early work in the 1950s and ‘60s was resolutely figurative and explored social and political narratives. After a move to New York in the mid-1960s his paintings became increasingly abstract, complex and expressive.
Bowling continues to push the boundaries of painting using techniques such as pouring, staining and scratching as seen in Watermelon Bight. Infused with personal memories, and often titled in homage to friends or recollections from the past, Bowling continues to paint every day in his South London studio having celebrated his 85th birthday in 2019.
Bowling’s paintings have been shown in many exhibitions in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, and are included in major collections worldwide. His work is held in the collections of MOMA, New York, and the Tate Gallery, London, which presented a large retrospective of his work in 2019. In 2005 Bowling was the first black artist to be elected a Royal Academician in the history of the institution. In 2008 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He lives and works in London.
