Review: Frank Bowling 'Land of Many Waters' at The Arnolfini, Bristol
© Lucy Pratt
© Lucy Pratt
Frank Bowling’s ‘Land of Many Waters’ places itself, aptly, at Bristol’s water’s edge in Harbourside gallery, The Arnolfini. Upon entrance, poet Grace Nichols’ quote lines the wall -
“No wonder your paintings / carry the genes of rivers / born as you were / in the land of many waters.”
The ‘genes of rivers’ are consistently present in Bowling’s life and work. His native Guyana translates to 'Land of Many Waters' in Amerindian language, referencing the numerous rivers, creeks and streams that flow through the length and breadth of the country. Later, Bowling’s transatlantic journey to the West would find him working in studios nearby to both The Thames in London and the East River in New York.
© Lucy Pratt
Nichol’s words linger upon entrance to the exhibit; their essence is found imprinted on Bowling’s canvases, where he permits his medium to move freely, like fluid. Letting waves, drips and splashes of paint embrace - Bowling’s bold palette washes together, unreserved and joyous. The exhibition sees Rothko’s understanding of colour collide with Pollock’s energetic application and J.M.W Turner’s preoccupation with light. The latter artist’s presence is most prominently felt in The Great Thames IV, where Bowling simultaneously references modern-day London alongside Turner’s murky yet sublimely vibrant colour palettes.
However, these works are more than their aqueous multicolour. Distressed, torn, bleeding, pressed, layered - they have endured a labour that is overtly stated, a journey shared by Bowling himself and the canvas. Some pieces, particularly in the more recent works found upstairs, are embellished with multifarious objects, unrecognisable under the treacle-thick layer of paint Bowling has attached them to the canvas with (humorously, Iona Miriam's Christmas Visit to & From Brighton presents, stuck under a sticky splat of glitter pink acrylic, a peg and a plastic spider). The materiality of paint and the limits of the canvas surface are relentlessly and tested.
© Lucy Pratt
Bowling’s slow trajectory to renown, burdened by race politics, now finds him rightfully set amongst the very best of abstract painters. However, make no mistake; as Bowling himself duly notes, these are, principally, paintings for painting’s sake. Displayed together, they are a profound inquisition into the medium of paint.
Frank Bowling is exhibiting at The Arnolfini until Sunday 26th September. Find out more here.
Written by Lucy Pratt
I'm a Liberal Arts graduate working in arts marketing and research. I’m particularly interest in access and creating ways for all kinds of people from all kinds of communities to experience the visual arts. Fave colour: green; fave animal: frogs.
