37528 2008

Curator: Frank Bowling's "37528," created in 2008. Bowling employed acrylic paint and impasto techniques on canvas to create this visually arresting work. Editor: It immediately strikes me as evocative—almost like a blurred landscape viewed through a rain-streaked window. A mix of melancholy and hope, wouldn’t you agree? Curator: I’m drawn to the surface, the materiality of it all. Notice how the texture of the acrylic paint, the built-up impasto, plays with the light. This isn't just about representation; it’s about the very act of making and how materials transform in the labor of the artist. Editor: Precisely, and within that act of making lies a powerful conversation. Bowling, a Guyanese-British artist, situates himself within an evolving dialogue on race and belonging through abstraction. What appears to be merely aesthetic is laden with identity and historical context. The ethereal quality makes one consider memory and place. Curator: Considering that the means of production here involved building up layers, pouring paint, tilting the canvas, there's also an element of chance. This method disrupts traditional painting hierarchies, as if the hand of the artist is collaborating with the intrinsic properties of the medium. Editor: Absolutely, it resists a single, authoritative narrative. Bowling’s processes subvert Western painting conventions. It challenges us to question what and who is considered "canonical" in art history—a point Bowling consistently contested throughout his career. Curator: I would say he draws us toward the very tangible qualities of the matter, so that we reconsider the labour that informs even an abstract painting, disrupting traditional hierarchies of high art and craft. Editor: This painting shows, to me, that abstraction is never truly devoid of content. It acts as an arena for negotiation, allowing Bowling to voice and reflect his complex relationship with his cultural heritage. Curator: Indeed. He prompts us to see how deeply intertwined process, material, and identity are in contemporary art making. Editor: I agree completely, it feels like this artwork will stay with me for a while.