Sneak Peeks: Paul Bowen

By Jared Ainscough

Paul Bowen is a artist who creates drawings and sculptures. Artists who work simultaneously in two media always interest me because I feel as though one medium is always telling of the other. Some two-dimensional artworks seem like sketches–however abstract–for a full-scale sculpture. Some sculptures feel like paintings come to life, appearing as an experiment for an artist.

Bowen’s work is different than most artists who work in two media. The sculptures aren’t echoes of the drawings and the drawings have little to nothing in common with the sculptures–on the surface at least. There are themes and subjects in his sculptures and likewise in his drawings, but the two rarely mix. You might think they were done by different artists. Yet there is something about all of these works that is undeniably similar. There is an unexplainable feeling that runs through all of his work. His work has a sense of curated chaos–gnarled, weathered, arranged and presented. Even his drawings have the sense of observation as opposed to creation. We are seeing something that he has found–the way that he found it. He’s just showing us how to see it.

Photo courtesy of Paul Bowen

Windrush II, mahogany and redwood, 11 ft x 122 ft x 120 ft, collection of Cape Cod Museum of Fine Art

Photo courtesy of Paul Bowen

Photo courtesy of Paul Bowen