Radiant Abstractions, a retrospective of paintings by Bay Area artist Richard Bowman (1918-2001) at The Landing.
In the 1950s and 60s, Bowman pioneered the use of fluorescent paints, incorporating them into wildly energetic abstract works profoundly influenced by scientific phenomena.
Gerard O'Brien, the owner of The Landing and a longtime friend. I made him pose.
An early Bowman hanging in the office.
Bowman was a pivotal figure in the art scene in Northern California in mid-twentieth century; he had solo shows at the San Francisco Museum of Art (now called SFMOMA) in 1961 and 1970, and a two-person show there in 1959, with Gordon Onslow Ford; his first retrospective in the region was at Stanford in 1956. In 1962, two of Bowman’s paintings were included in the seminal exhibition 50 California Artists at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. (Bowman was also included in the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1953-1954.) His circle in the Bay Area included Lee Mullican, J.B. Blunk, Fred Reichman, Gordon Onslow Ford, and Ruth Asawa, as well as poet Kenneth Patchen; he was active in the region from the time he settled there in the 50s until his death in 2001.
More information on Bowman can be found at The Landing.