Latest Events
Saturday 25 May, 2019 to Saturday 8 June, 2019
Dean Bowen – Exhibition
‘The home of kindness’ – Paintings & Sculptures
Recently discovered in an old drawer in Dean Bowen’s country childhood home was an early pre-kindergarten drawing he created around 1960. This almost frantic, expressionist drawing on old butcher’s paper depicted an archetypal house with spiralling smoke below a just visible sun and scribbled sky, so characteristic of early childhood artworks. What a thrill and how joyously amusing it was for the artist to discover this lost remnant, this little treasure from the past!
Like an echo across time and now through the eyes of an adult Dean revisits the theme of the home, along with other favourite themes and ideas inspired by everyday life and memories of the Australian countryside, city life, travel and literature.
In the exhibition, ‘The Home of Kindness’, the themes of starry night skies, comets returning to earth, boats, echidnas, birds, pets and insects all make an appearance, reflecting Dean’s interest in these subjects. Over the last year he has also been developing paintings of sheep which were initially inspired by C. Watkins painting ‘Darling Downs’ 1887, one of his favourite works in the Bendigo Art Gallery. Dean’s sheep paintings also pay homage to the Australian artist Les Kossatz, who created so many sheep artworks.
This exhibition focuses on recent oil paintings and bronze sculpture, the artists ideas often developing in one technique and then evolving into others as concepts cascade and bounce of each other.
Dean says ‘I am fascinated by all kinds of art and artists and inspired by the creativity of people in all walks of life. I love the handmade, the outsider, children’s art, naïve art, modernist and primitive art of all kinds. I try to search for artworks that will echo something profoundly human, through an optimism and humour that is often sadly missing in modern times. I hope that the artworks in this exhibition will evoke optimism and bring as much inquiry, joy, play and imagination as the work of that so very young artist did way back then.’
Dean Bowen was born in 1957 in Maryborough Victoria. Having completed a Diploma of Fine Art at RMIT in 1976 and subsequently completing his Master of Arts and PhD at Monash University, Dean Bowen is one of Australia’s most respected contemporary artists. A veteran of over 80 solo exhibitions dating back to 1983. Selected collections include: Art Gallery of New South Wales; Australian War Memorial, Canberra; A-Z Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, UK; Colas Foundation, Paris, France; Cremona Public Museum, (Prints Cabinet), Cremona, Italy; Crown Casino, Melbourne; Deutsche Bank, Geneva, Switzerland; Fukuoka Museum of Art, Japan; James Hardie Collection, State Library of QLD; National Bank of Australia; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Library of Australia, Canberra; Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; St George Bank, Sydney; Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart; URDLA Archives, Lyon, France; World Congress Centre, Melbourne; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Vic
The exhibition ‘Dean Bowen – The Home of Kindness – paintings and sculptures’ is showing at Anthea Polson Art, Shop 120 Marina Mirage, Seaworld Drive Main Beach QLD 4217 from May 25 – June 8 2019