ARTIST TO WATCH
Paul Bowen
Paul Bowen creates found-object sculptures from materials he has scavenged along the beaches of Cape Cod, where he lived and worked for 30 years, and the rivers and dams of Vermont and New Hampshire. His work lays bare a deep sense of place and a phenomenal understanding of the passage of time. His materials, mostly man-made in origin, are worn, battered, and aged when he finds them washed ashore or in the basement of an old house. Bowen crafts these bits and pieces into sculptures that embody both the new and the old, the now and the past, humanity weathered by nature.
“He is constantly adding to, and selecting from, his extensive stockpile of rusted metal, notched planks of wood, broken barrel staves, frayed rope, and other marine detritus,” writes 2018 Artist to Watch Guest Curator Danny Lichtenfeld. “Neither representational nor figurative, Bowen’s work is formal, additive, and abstract—but not without meaning. Each sculpture is rich with associations, because the materials emanate their history and purpose. Bowen’s works have a talismanic energy beyond their formal beauty.”
“Artists to Watch 2018” is a survey of contemporary Vermont artists that appears as special features in Vermont Art Guide #6 and #7 and in a two-part exhibition at the Vermont Arts Council.
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Bowen crafts these bits and pieces into sculptures that embody both the new and the old, the now and the past, humanity weathered by nature.
In 2018, Bowen continues to make sculptures built from rust-stained wood collected from Cape Cod beaches and river banks near his home in southern Vermont. From March 15th to May 20th, 2018, a major work constructed from oars is on exhibit at The Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, Massachusetts as part of “Preserving The Very Nature of Cape Cod.” A commissioned group of table-top-sized sculptures will be shown in “On Edge” at The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut from May 20th, 2018 to January 13th, 2019. Bowen’s work can be seen in Vermont at BigTown Gallery in Rochester.
Each issue of Vermont Art Guide has over a hundred places to see art around the state. The full-color, printed magazine has artist and venue profiles as well as articles and news about Vermont Art. Our goal is to document and share the state’s incredible art scene. “Artists to Watch 2018” is a survey of contemporary Vermont artists that appears as special features in Vermont Art Guide #6 and #7 and in a two-part exhibition at the Vermont Arts Council.
ABOUT ARTISTS TO WATCH | GET THE MAGAZINE | EXHIBITION DETAILS
Originally from Wales, Paul Bowen calls Vermont home now, but continues to teach and work in Provincetown, where he lived for 30 years. A recipient of a Gottlieb Foundation Grant, and numerous others, he was a Fellow at Provincetown’s Fine Arts Work Center from 1977 to 1979. His work is in many private and public collections including The Guggenheim Museum, New York and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Images by Paul Bowen (top to bottom):
Sapper (39″x75″x13″; 2010)
Apse (rust-stained wood; 2016-2017)
Trap (12″x9″x5″; rust-stained wood; 2016)