Frank Bowling’s “Like Water” exhibition brings together selected works spanning from the 1960s to 2020, offering a focused view of the artist’s long-term engagement with painting, surface, and material experimentation.

Born in 1934, Sir Frank Bowling is widely regarded as one of the most significant figures in British contemporary art. Across more than six decades of practice, he has consistently expanded the technical and conceptual possibilities of painting, treating the surface not only as a visual field but also as a physical and layered space.

The works presented in “Like Water” highlight key shifts in Bowling’s practice over time. Early experiments from the 1960s sit alongside large-scale abstract compositions from his later career, revealing both continuity and transformation in his approach to color, texture, and composition.

A central aspect of Bowling’s work is his interest in material behavior. Paint is used in fluid, layered, and often unpredictable ways, creating surfaces that suggest movement, depth, and accumulation. Themes of water, flow, and atmospheric space frequently emerge as structural and visual references throughout the selected works.

Despite being in his nineties, Bowling continues to paint regularly in his South London studio. This ongoing practice gives the exhibition a sense of continuity, positioning the works not only as historical markers but also as part of an active and evolving artistic process.

Overall, “Like Water” presents a restrained and material-focused overview of Frank Bowling’s practice, emphasizing his sustained investigation into painting as both substance and structure.

all images © the gallery and the artist(s)