Insights on the Art of Frank Bowling with Ben Bowling and Sarah Roberts

Join Sarah Roberts, Andrew W. Mellon Curator and Head of Painting and Sculpture, and Ben Bowling, son of the artist Sir Frank Bowling, in a discussion of Frank Bowling: The New York Years 1966–1975, opening at SFMOMA on May 20, 2023. Their conversation will cover the luminous and technically pioneering paintings by the artist who was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) and began his career in London before becoming a key figure in the New York art scene. Discover insights into Frank Bowling’s politically aware “map paintings,” richly layered “poured paintings,” and recent work in the studio today.

About the Speakers

Ben Bowling is Professor of Criminology at King’s College London and a co-director of Frank Bowling Studio. His books including Young People and Crime (1995), Violent Racism (1999), Policing the Caribbean (2010), and The Politics of the Police (2020). As co-director (with his brother, Sacha Bowling) of Frank Bowling studio, he leads a ten person-strong studio team and works with galleries and museums freeing Sir Frank to make the critically acclaimed work that is at the heart of his painting practice. Bowling moonlights as a musician; his band — Doc Bowling and his Blues Professors — performs regularly across the UK and Europe, and their third album, Cosmopolitan Soul, was released in 2019.

Sarah Roberts serves as Andrew W. Mellon Curator and Head of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA, where she has organized exhibitions and directed research initiatives on the museum’s permanent collection since 2004. On the occasion of the museum’s seventy-fifth anniversary in 2010, she co-organized The Anniversary Show, a yearlong major collection exhibition, for which she also contributed to and co-edited the accompanying publication. She served as primary author and director of the museum’s Rauschenberg Research Project, the first scholarly online publication produced by SFMOMA. Other exhibitions include the museum’s presentation of the exhibition Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules (2017); Louise Bourgeois Spiders (2018–19); and Carol Bove and John Chamberlain: Converse (2020). In 2021, she curated Joan Mitchell, a major retrospective organized with Katy Siegel and the Baltimore Museum of Art, for which she also co-authored and co-edited the exhibition catalogue. Since the museum’s reopening in 2016, she has overseen the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at SFMOMA. Prior to joining SFMOMA, Roberts held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum; Lincoln, MA.

Accessibility Affordances

Accessible seating is available at this event.

Accessibility accommodations such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and assisted listening devices are available upon request ten business days in advance. Please email publicengagement@sfmoma.org, and we will do our best to fulfill your request.

Support for Public Programs and Artist Talks at SFMOMA is provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Distinguished Lecture Series.