From the March Meeting

Dean Bowen with president Gillian Govan and secretary John Bishop

Another very successful monthly meeting was held on March 13th well attended by members who were greatly entertained and impressed with the presentation by accomplished Melbourne artist Dean Bowen.
Dean has been a fixture on the art scene for the past 30 years with a variety of works in painting, printmaking and in sculpture since 1995. His works have been featured in solo exhibitions in Australia, in France, and in Japan, Switzerland and in the UK. In March through to April his works will be shown in Adelaide and at Castlemaine from March to May. In Melbourne his lithographs will be shown at the Port Jackson Press in Fitzroy till April 2nd.

At the meeting Dean revealed how the long lasting influence his childhood and his love of the simple things in life have continued to occur time and time again in all his works in whatever medium. His three-dimensional bronzes are fuelled by the influences of his childhood culminating in the creation of a contemporary world viewed through uniquely humorous, imaginative - and considered - eyes. These include kookaburras, crows, parrots, canaries, horses, cats, flowers, comets passing in the night sky, and a series of scenes depicting the madness of traffic jams, and as he says "The vast landscape and infinite stars, along with a comets return to earth, informs us of the enormity, yet fragility of the universe".

A good example of this long lasting influence is his works featuring cats, both in paintings and when the opportunity arose, to complete a large sculpture of a cat. That came when Dean was commissioned in 2011 by Wyndham City to create a monumental bronze, for the Wyndham Vale Community Learning Centre. Commissioned by the Public Art Advisory Group (PAAG) as part of the Per Cent for Art Scheme, which allocates 1% of spending on capital works to the development of public art, and used the opportunity to produce a large version of "Cat", 80 X 306 X 105 cm for the commission.

"The cat has been an important and ongoing subject in my work for a number of years" said Dean " As the Community Centre is surrounded by three schools, my aim was to make a sculpture that would engage and speak to one of the main uses of the building, the children. My humorous and oversized interpretation of the cat draws inspiration from ancient Egyptian art as well as childhood and adult memories of many amusing encounters with these thought provoking creatures".



Citing major influences as the art and philosophy of French painter, Jean Dubuffet, who embraced the art of children, the humour of Spanish sculptor, Joan Miro, and the stick-like figures of Swiss artist, Alberto Giacometti. Dean also gets great enjoyment from realizing the potential to create whimsical figures assembled from found objects, as did Picasso. He is also drawn to the work of naive artists, untrained artists and the drawings of children. Dean made a point of stressing that he likes crude direct strong art, not too refined to convey his feelings and emotions. " As an artist you need to constantly challenge your creativity" he said "and one sure way of doing this is to keep pushing boundaries. A failure is a sure sign that you are constantly pushing your boundaries".





Dean Bowen was commissioned by the Greater Shepparton City Council to create a large-scale bronze sculpture titled ‘The Farmer’ for the redeveloped Shepparton Showground’s site. The sculpture was installed in April 2007. The commission was generously sponsored by SPC Ardmona.



At an exhibition of paintings, sculpture and prints at Axia Modern Art gallery opened by Michael Leunig in 2009, Dean Bowen’s monograph "Argy Bargy" was launched, named after the painting depicting the madness of traffic congestion, of the same name that was a finalist in the Sulman Prize the year before. The monograph documents the artist’s work over a twenty-year period and was published by Macmillan Art Publishing. The monograph includes 228 pages and is richly illustrated with more than 250 colour and black and white images. It features a major essay by leading Art Historian and Curator Sheridan Palmer, extensive biographical details and provides a comprehensive overview of the artist’s career as a visual artist featuring paintings, sculpture, prints, tapestry and animation.




The bronze Walking Figure was installed in McCormack Park, Laverton
 in 2010
. Originally set on a pedestal about a meter high the figure was attacked by vandals who attempted to steal it, possibly to melt it down and sell the metal. If they had succeeded Dean would have the consolation of knowing he was in good company as none other than the late Barbara Hepworth had a sculpture of hers stolen from Dulwich Park in South London last December. The piece called Two Forms was insured for 500,000 Pounds (A$730,889) the theft came a day after Scotland Yard launched its first dedicated unit to tackle the growing problem of metal thefts in sculpture. The Walking Man has now been installed on a substantial stone plinth two meters high.



After the presentation there was a lively discussion and many question, including a discussion about the introduction of colour including oil paints, and enamels, in sculpture. Dean has worked in collaboration with Bill Perrin at his foundry in Cheltenham for the past 8 years developing a range of patinas, suitable for use in sculpture. Dean has introduced colour in several of his works including The Farmer as pictured. The informal part of the meeting could have gone on all night if we had not let Dean escape. To do proper justice to Dean’s great body of works, it is necessary to go to his web site. There you will find a well-illustrated and comprehensive coverage of his paintings, sculpture both in bronze and assemblages, etchings, lithographs, drawings artist’s books and his children’s books. (www.deanbowen.com.au)

Report by Gordon Robertson, images courtesy of Dean Bowen