Frank Bowling. Like Water Exhibition Flows with Inspiration

Description

At the grand age of 92, Sir Frank Bowling enjoys the first solo in exhibition in East Asia. Frank Bowling. Like Water brings together six decades of work by the celebrated British artist, stretching as far back as his 1966 piece “Untitled (Mother’s House),” an early portrait rich with nostalgia for the Guyanese home he left for London in 1953, while still a teenager, to study at the Royal College of Art. This gamble was evidently repaid; following a decade sojourn to New York, beginning 1966, he abandoned figurative imagery to begin his water-inspired Poured Paintings. Among the inspired output was “Crevice Reflecting Morning Light” (1977), on display in Hong Kong.

Also present at the Hauser & Wirth exhibition are pieces which reveal Bowling’s creativity remained undiminished well into the 21st century. Integrating gels and found materials, late-career masterpieces include “Spawn (Cold as a Dog’s Nose)” (2007) and the three-metre wide “There Be Dragons” (2020). It is heartening to learn Bowling still paints in his London studio to this day.