Sir Frank Bowling OBE and member of the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts, is an artist of international repute. Now in his nineties, his work has been celebrated and collected since the 1960s and is on display in major museums and galleries across the world. Born in Guyana, Frank arrived in this country in 1953 as a young man. He studied art and began to paint shortly thereafter and still works today. Unsurprisingly he has an enormous portfolio and is known for producing monumental paintings. We are very lucky in Brixton to get a taste of his talents in this small but perfectly formed exhibition in the Tate Library which has been mounted as part of Black History Month. Like a mini-retrospective, it is a collection of 16 prints of selected works painted during the period 1968 to 2020.
The collection includes examples of his ‘map paintings’ which trace and layer stencils of countries and continents and his ‘pour paintings’ where acrylic paint is poured directly onto the canvas.
You will notice the colours first. Vibrant, extravagant colours. And mostly from the warm end of the spectrum so that that pinks, reds and oranges glow and pulsate, literally zinging off the wall. The impact is immediate and powerful. But he also uses colour to tell a story. These are abstract works but hidden within the waves, sweeps and splashes of colour are shapes and textures inviting you to take your own personal journey into his visions. Don’t rush the journey, but take your time and you will see movement, faces and places. You will enjoy tracking his visual hints and echoes during your voyage of discovery. Some works seem to be looking through and over distant landscapes. Others seem to be in clouds waiting for the world to come into focus. The works are joyful but layered and serious; visually bold and beautiful windows onto complex and varied worlds.
Go if you can.
Frank Bowling Selected Prints runs until 31 December in the Tate Library, Windrush Square. Entry is free and the exhibition is open during Library hours.
