John Bowman: Dominion

Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by John Bowman. In a series of erased graphite drawings, Dominion is a meditation on an object made of shards of glass, the chandelier. These glittering chandeliers evoke excess and accumulation, a celebration of dazzling abundance and distraction.
Bowman creates these ‘erasure’ drawings by covering panels in graphite before removing it to reveal the image. He adopted this subtractive technique three decades ago after a visit to Vienna, to depict the sharp light that illuminates architectural details that rise over the city. As the light in these drawings became more important than the architecture, he reimagined this incandescent play in the form of ghostly chandeliers.
In Ascent and Highrise, the forms shift again to take on the shapes of a visionary city with faceted structures, simultaneously evoking shattered reflections of our world, eternal change, and bustling city life. These castles in the air are suspended cities, off-planet settlements, hanging by a thread.
In Dominion, the chandelier mutates into a regal, skeletal form, an X-ray of the ferocity of an unfolding spectacle. Through these abraded forms, Bowman traces a vision of appetite and exuberance, erosion and renewal. The drawings reflect a fractured social network, a collection of discrete units that splinter and coalesce into communities of light.
John Bowman works in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing and sculpture. He has shown internationally and is represented in many private and museum collections. Bowman is currently a Professor of Art at the Pennsylvania State University. He is also a founder of “First Street Green,” a collaborative community group in the East Village of New York City.