Much of Bowden’s work contains strong political content, dating to his youth and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Bowden focuses on black and white, hyper-realistic pencil drawings composed with ballpoint pens and brightly colored markers.
Bowden also uses historic photographs as subjects within his drawings, but attempts to surpass photography with a wider tonal range found in original source material.
A successful commercial artist, Bowden practices fine art with juxtapositions of words, abstractions, and popping colors in mordant graphite drawings aimed at heightening pictorial form. His 2005 work Man Bomb, for example, depicts the contrast between a graphite image of a 19th century woman and vividly colored, phallic-shaped bombs. The bombs bear the names and faces of political figures and their affiliations. At the bottom of the image, a manifesto states Bowden’s message, a feminist critique of “warmongering political systems.” Many of his works depict anti-war, anti-colonialism and other politically-charged topics.
First Street Gallery will host a public reception for Bowden on Saturday, Oct. 2nd, from 6 to 9 p.m., during Eureka Main Street’s Arts Alive program.
Humboldt State’s First Street Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m., and located at 422 First Street, Eureka. Admission is free to all and school groups are asked to call ahead to arrange tours at 707/443-6363 or visit the gallery’s website at www.humboldt.edu/first.