Frank Bowling: The New York Years 1966–1975

Discover the luminous and technically pioneering paintings made during Frank Bowling’s pivotal decade in New York, when he became a key actor in a vibrant art scene that transformed his practice. Born in Bartica, British Guiana (now Guyana), Bowling began his career in London and visited Guyana before arriving in New York in 1966, where he participated in critical debates around abstract painting and the role of Black cultural identity in artistic practices.

Drawing from his own transnational journeys and connections, Bowling developed major bodies of work in New York including his oceanic “map paintings,” with hazy stencils of continents and silkscreened family photos. He created color-soaked abstract compositions that reflect watery landscapes from Guyana, London, and New York and made his dynamic process-driven “poured paintings” using a tilting platform to create dazzling compositions. A group of recent paintings made in his London studio show how his work today continues his decades-long experimentation drawing from his family history and transnational experiences, revealing vital intergenerational and globally relevant histories of art.