South African artist, Denis Bowen, took three or four days to
produce each of his latest collection of paintings in the Friends
of Imperial College summer show, held in the Blyth Centre.
Denis
Bowen in front of one of the Diptych Space Disc |
Diversely influenced by Jackson Pollock, Pierre Soulages, and
William Turner, Bowen took inspiration for Recent Work from dealing
with the subconscious, resulting in projections of the inner mind
formulated by the surroundings in which he moves.
Painting is like a signature; youre supposed to be able to
identify a piece of work with the person who has drawn it and these
are clearly mine no one else could have done them, he explained.
Colours are arbitary. If you gave Picasso three colours, hed put
them together in such a way that theyd be far more interesting than
someone else doing it and youd know instinctively it was him.
Your mind needs to be empty when you paint; only then can you
really become active. I go into a state of hyperconsciousness when
Im working; I always know when paint reaches a point that satisfies
my sensibilities.
Interested in the chemical interaction between oil paint pigment
and turpentine which produces an amorphous quality, he used car
paint sprays to produce a mist like film suggesting mystical
isolation. The drying time between different chemical qualities has
resulted in his paintings resembling an inprint of time.
A painting should look almost alive. I call it freezing time. I
paint under an electric light as my work is seen under electric
light most of the time. Each painting changes according to light,
they can travel through time due to the metallic, inflective aspect
of the materials used.
