Ross Bowns

"Coalesced Space"  23.5" x 16"  oil on Dura-Lar  2009

"Burdened"  18" x 24"  oil on canvas  2009

"Remain"  17.5" x 24.5"  oil on Dura-Lar  2009

"Suffers Lasting Pain, But Pretends Calm and Composure"  oil on panel

"An Obsessive Regret Lingers" 16" x 24"  oil on panel  2010

Anyone who has ever painted recognizes that the process is a fascinating exercise in potentialities, where accidents often suggest whole new directions in which to take a piece. Often these happy accidents are lost in overworking. Then in frustration one wipes out large completed areas to begin anew only to marvel at the revelation one's angry gesture suddenly reveals. And so it goes. Ross Bowns' work is all about this process and how it interacts with the attempt to record perception. He begins with the conceit of representation, looking and trying to depict what one sees in two dimensions. But he makes no attempt to end there. Very quickly the figure begins to melt into the painting process itself and he searches not for a way to finish the painting but rather for the perfect moment to simply stop painting and show us how the whole thing works. The fact that he chooses the human figure as his subject is in this sense irrelevant. But in another, it is perfectly apropos. It is one of the oldest and most traditional subjects in painting, carrying with it the weight of tradition and the whole history of technique and method. But it also helps to convey the fact that his work is as much an inward looking process as an outward one.

See more at rossbowns.net

I came across Ross Bowns work recently on www.artistaday.com